WISCONSIN (WFRV) – As the wildfires in Southern California continue to burn through thousands of acres, the firefighting efforts are on full display, and local fire specialists explain how surrounding areas became overwhelmed by flames.
“The big difference is in California, it’s a more arid climate, and so for us here, we have a lot more humidity, and that helps break down the forest fuels and litter that are on the forest floor,” explained Michele Witecha, a prescribed fire specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
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Jon Kellermann is the wildland firefighter and natural resources instructor at Fox Valley Technical College. He said Wisconsin wildfires are more concentrated, but they do happen.
“When you have those Santa Ana winds, hurricane-force winds, it’s hard to engage a fire at that point,” he said. “The same thing could apply here when we have red flag warnings. We do get those here in Wisconsin, we get wildfires here in Wisconsin, and we can get up to a thousand wildfires plus in a season, a lot of them kept very small.”…