Today marks the week when San Diego County experienced its biggest and most deadly wildfires.
The dates the two fires started were October 21st in 2007 and October 25th in 2003.
They burned for days and the combined fires left two dozen people dead, others injured, and thousands of homes destroyed.
And this is why San Diego’s Mayor, Fire Chief and Police Chief are holding a news conference today to get out the word about how the city prepares for wildfires and how all of us can prepare and what to do if there are evacuations.
The 2007 wildfires led to the largest wildfire evacuation in the city’s history, more than a half million people.And because of that lives and homes were probably saved.
The good news is that the way wildfires are fought now and the resources and equipment to fight them are much improved compared to 2003 and 2007.
And SDG&E has much better system for detecting fire threats and shutting off power lines that help prevent fires.
The biggest way to prevent bad wildfires in October or any month of the year is to make sure they don’t get started and if they do, firefighters are alerted immediately.
And that’s how all of us can help, by not doing anything that could spark a fire and if we smell or see some smoke, don’t hesitate to call 911 right away.
(Photo credit Getty Images)