The Bay Area is baking and the East Bay’s triple digits has Cal Fire concerned.
There isn’t much green left in the hills of Contra Costa County and the current heat wave will probably get rid of whatever is left, but Cal Fire is pushing fire safety this week.
Firefighter are now out inspecting the clearance around homes and they also went to full staffing throughout the Bay Area on Monday, but peak fire season staffing is still a ways off.
“We will go to peak fire season when the conditions dictate, which will probably be in the next few weeks,” said Cal Fire Batalion Chief Bryan Giambrone. “If we do have high fire danger like today, we could add additional staffing as well as additional aircraft and additional fire engines.”
You might’ve thought the brutal temperatures would be good for ice cream shop CREAM in Downtown Concord but the owner said not when it’s this hot during the day and with most people still staying home due to coronavirus concerns.
“There’s really nowhere to go right now,” said owner Mary Ann Stites. “You can’t go to the beaches, you can’t go to the swimming pools, so what else is there to do?”
Cal Fire said it has seen a jump in people getting out to escape the home isolation and have also been responding to a lot of heat-related injuries.
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“We’re starting to see people go out on hikes in the middle of the day,” said Bryan. “They’re not necessarily bringing enough water or they’re no acclimating their bodies before they actually go out.”
There was some especially good news for those trying to beat the heat using fans and AC indoors, unlike during other heat waves, PG&E said it had virtually no problems with power outages Wednesday.