On one hand, the air quality district and Calfire deserve recognition for taking a proactive approach with controlled burns in rural areas, such as the one conducted this week about 20 miles from Hollister in the Salinas Valley. Their work with prescribed burns is important and necessary toward preventing major disasters in a wildfire-heavy region.
On the other hand, though, the air quality district left much room for improvement in how it communicated the controlled burn to the public, along with its poorly timed decision to burn those 1,000 acres Tuesday in less-than-ideal weather conditions.
Calfire first sent notice to the public Monday night in an 8:30 p.m. press release – regarding the prescribed burn scheduled for 10:30 a.m. the next morning. Without a way to immediately reach a large portion of residents – it didn’t give media organizations enough time to fully disseminate the information – the planned burn left most people confused and curious about the large blanket of smoke covering the region.
To his credit, Air Pollution Control Officer Richard Stedman acknowledged the agency and Calfire should improve communication to the public. Although it is difficult to predict the precise day for such prescribed burns, the Monterey Bay Air Pollution district could alert residents – through media organizations and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, or the Nixle system used by the Hollister Police Department – that the activities might occur on certain days.
Getting the word out would improve chances to prevent negative impacts on residents – such as health effects on some people, businesses shutting down, diverted plans outdoors, concerns over a potentially dangerous fire or unnecessary calls to 911. While Santa Cruz 911 did not have a precise number available for volume of calls made about the smoke and fire, an official with the dispatching organization confirmed operators did receive some of them.
While weather is unpredictable and the winds failed to cooperate – so there is no perfect answer – structure fires are unpredictable, too. A Prunedale fire spurred Calfire to temporarily shut down the controlled burn and reignite the blaze in the evening – the wrong choice by Calfire because nighttime conditions aggravated the smoke problem – after addressing the structure fire.
Calfire, though, merely responded to circumstances. The air pollution district, especially in this day and age with widespread access to social media, must improve its methods for communicating to the public about these prescribed burns.
