“Things already are hotter and drier earlier in the season,” Mr. Ghilarducci said. “Looming in the background are the public safety power shutoffs that were infamous last year. And if that’s not bad enough, now we have to deal with a worldwide pandemic. In a fire season. With the power off. What else do you want from us?”
Mr. Ghilarducci’s remarks came as he was helping plan fire precautions that would be announced in July by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Among them: Protocols to beef up fire crews and to prevent the virus from spreading in evacuation centers.
The new evacuation rules include health screenings upon entry to a shelter, extra cleaning, prepackaged meals, separating evacuees with Covid-19 symptoms, and the repurposing of college dorms, Airbnb houses, campgrounds and hotels into evacuation shelters.
“We have to think differently,” he said. “We know sticking everybody into a big room at a fairground isn’t going to work this year.”
But, he added, “there’s no silver bullet.”
“We’re going to do our damnedest to keep people safe,” Mr. Ghilarducci said in May. “But this is like MacGyver on steroids. And failure is not an option. We have to find a pathway.”
Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Kellen Browning, Thomas Fuller, Shawn Hubler, Christina Morales, Azi Paybarah, Ivan Penn, Derrick Bryson Taylor, Lucy Tompkins, Will Wright and Alan Yuhas.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/ca-fires.html
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