Local fire agencies preparing for possible lightning fires

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fire agencies across Central California are ready to respond if lightning strikes spark fires, paying close attention to the higher elevations.

Agencies in our area aren't staging for potential lightning fires, but they do have lightning plans in place that they are ready to activate if the storms spark fires this weekend.

As the Pedro Fire enters its fouth day, CAL FIRE MMU continues to direct most of its resources there but fire stations remain staffed and ready to respond to other fires that may spark over the weekend.

They have an established lighting plan that's activated when storms are in the forecast.

When lightning strikes a team is dispatched to determine if a fire has sparked.

"As we get more and more lightning strikes then the battalion chief that at the scene will send one engine out there to confirm of the lightning strike and if that fire grows, has potential or grows larger than we can send additional resources," said CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Robert Carvalho.

If there are continued strikes, they could pull resources from the Pedro Fire to assist.

Fresno County CAL FIRE has its own lightning plan, ready to respond at all times.

Earlier this summer their firefighters battled the the June Lightning Complex fire that burned more than 10,000 acres.

With lightning strikes, it can take days before the fires become apparent.

"What will happen after that is we could us our airplanes to do a reconnaissance of the area to see if any fires have started the next day," said Gary Couch, Fresno County CAL FIRE.

The US Forest Service battled the SQF Lightning Complex Fire and is actively battling the Borel Fire burning in Sequoia National Forest.

The fires have led to closures of trails and recreation areas which park officials want visitors to be aware of.

"There's a reason that we have closures to make sure that people don't go into hazardous areas that have known known risk," said Amy Masi, USFS Spokesperson.

"So, we ask the public to obey those. If there is an area that's affected by Wildfire. We ask people to take evacuation warnings, advisories, and orders seriously."

With the threat of more fires the Forest Service extended staffing, so they come in earlier and stay later, and they're strictly monitoring weather conditions.

They ask that you follow any fire restrictions within the forest if you do visit.

For news updates, follow Kate Nemarich on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.