With fire season looming, CAL FIRE urges Fresno County residents to prepare

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Despite all of the rain we have had recently, CAL FIRE says preparing for wildfire season is still important.

"It's that time, fire season is here," firefighter Jeremiah Wittwer said.

About 10 years ago, Wittwer was on the scene when a Fresno County house burned down after a grass fire erupted.

"We had a really windy day, and we had a lot of spots that were casting over the road. We had to pull in additional resources," he said.

Non-defensible space helped the raging blaze spiral out of control.

"Right now, just looking at the grass here, three and a half, four-foot grass and it's drying out," Wittwer said. "You can hear cracking in the grass."

Within the past week, Wittwer says there have been almost 25 grass fires in Fresno County. One fire was on Sunday, and the homeowners say they lost everything, including their two pets.

And then late Monday afternoon, a grass fire in the city of Fresno damaged roughly two acres and threatened a home nearby. Wittwer says stopping this from happening is simple and easy.

"Cut and remove all vegetation away from the structures try to get rid of any debris that's piled near structure and away from dead grass. Try to take care of these things early in the morning," he said.

Nearby neighbor Lynne Nowell has already jumped on it. She says at the end of March, she and her husband got out in the yard to safeguard their home.

"It is something we do every year," she said. "Obviously, the danger of somebody throwing something out of their car is there and the weeds start growing around March and we start mowing and doing the roundup."

Firefighters say doing this protects you and helps them contain a fire faster if one were to break out.

For information on the Ready For Wildfire app, click here.