Heatwave, fireworks pose high fire danger during week of July 4 holiday, Bay Area firefighters say

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Fire crews were quick to put out a small fire that was burning near homes in Lafayette. No injuries or damage reported, but firefighters note that fire danger is high this week.

"Typically we see a lot of foggy mornings in May. 'No Sky July' and the 'June Gloom.' We really haven't seen a lot of those foggier, heavier moisture week mornings. What we've seen, right now, is just a lot of dry back-to-back weeks," said Paul Lowenthal, a division chief with the Santa Rosa Fire Department.

Lowenthal says it has already been a busy past few weeks around the Bay Area. The Point Fire in Sonoma County broke out two weeks ago, burned more than 1,200 acres and promoted evacuations.

A wild fire near Brentwood burned more than 250 acres this past week.

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On Sunday, Cal Fire tweeted: "It has already been one of the busiest starts to a fire year in the CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit with over 20,000 acres already burned. That is more acres burned than the Unit saw over the entire three previous years combined."

"We have seen a lot of our fire activity develop in the higher elevations and push down into the valley floor over the last several years. And so that is always a concern of ours," says Lowenthal.

He says fire season traditionally hits California later in the year. But with this year's rain, came a lot of growth and vegetation that has quickly dried out.

And this week will be hot -- temperatures in the 100s. Humidity will be low. The wind, always a wildcard. All combined, it poses a real threat of wildfire across the Northern California.

"Really, with what we are seeing, the excessive growth of seasonal grasses, the dry conditions, the winds, the humidities, we have a lot of concerns headed into this holiday week," Lowenthal said.

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PG&E is warning that these conditions could prompt Public Safety Power Shutoffs, or PSPS, which are planned outages that help prevent wildfires -- mostly for small areas in Solano and Napa Counties.

"What we are watching really closely for Tuesday is what the wind speeds are going to be in these area that have really dry conditions," said Jeff Smith, a spokesperson for PG&E.

Fire officials are warning that illegal fireworks, and even the safe and sane fireworks, pose huge risks this holiday week.

"We really need everybody to do their part to reduce those activities again that could spark a wildfire. (The) last thing we need is an increase in fire activity as we head into the holiday weekend," Lowenthal said.