Fire Concerns Increase As Temperatures Climb Into Record Territory

GALT (CBS13) - Record high temperatures are raising the fire risk in Sacramento County. There have been three in just the past 24 hours.

"We're just lucky we have the fire station within such proximity. They were here and just were great," said Wilton resident Domenick Bomben.

Imagine the horror of watching flames burning dangerously close to your home. That's what Bomben faced as a grass fire crept closer to his house in Wilton.

"It looked really like it was contained and then the winds picked it up into some taller grass out behind all of our properties and it got out of control pretty fast," Bomben said.

On Sunday afternoon, fire crews were able to contain the fire near Haggie and Davis roads, with only a few outbuildings torched. A few miles away, another fire broke out in Elk Grove, burning 100 acres off of the Eschlinger Road.

A third blaze took out a haystack on Monday morning.

Concerns are starting to mount for people living near these fires as temperatures are expected to reach with the mercury possibly tipping scales at 100 degrees and higher over the next couple of days.

Particularity when it comes to fuel.

"It did dry out because of the lack of spring rains, and the little bit of rains we had -- all it's done produce more growth," said Bob Camblin, a Wilton resident.

Bomben is also concerned.

"Yes, the fact that it started this early and that we're seeing multiple fires over a weekend," Bomben said.

Recent rain may have led some people to think this will extinguish fire concerns as we move further into the fire season. Cosumnes Fire Department Battalion Chief Shawn Holden told CBS13 the fuels in our area will dry up again quickly even after a nice downpour.

"For us in the valley here, we see this every year. The grass grows green when the rain comes and then right after it, everything turns to brown. And once that brown hits, it's definitely burnable," he said.

Cal Fire's fire severity maps compile data from fuel, terrain, and weather to identify hazardous areas in different counties as well as statewide. A map for the local department responsivity areas for Sacramento didn't show many high-level hazards zones for local departments. For the state responsibility areas, the areas towards the foothills, and those considered medium-level hazard zones, Cosumnes Fire Department told CBS13 it does pre-plan for areas that have been problem areas in the past.

"Our priorities are a little bit different for that area than just a common grass fire that maybe we know we have life-priority issues. We have elderly communities that we need to evacuate or to shelter-in-place," Holden said.