Fire Department Douses Blazing Trees as Worried Officials Eye Drought’s Fire Risks

A group of about seven trees were torches of fire when Pasadena Fire Department units arrived at the rear of apartments in the 400 block of West Washington Boulevard Thursday morning about 10:30 a.m.

The 9-1-1 call had described a structure fire, but firefighters saw only the trees burning as they put out the flames and protected nearby buildings, authorities said.

The Pasadena Urban Forestry Forestry Department was requested to assess the trees, and determined that they were safe to leave in place.

Fires, even relatively small ones, remain a constant danger as long-term effects of California’s drought has reduced vegetation hydration and many plants are explosively dry.

A trend of increasingly dangerous vegetation fires has been growing since 2000.

Daniel Berlant of Cal Fire told The Weather Channel that higher temperatures are becoming increasingly problematic and reduced humidity create dry vegetation, a catalyst for explosive fire speed.