Cal Fire suspends fire permits for Sonoma, Napa and three other counties

According to Cal Fire, residents of Sonoma, Napa and three other counties will soon be prohibited from lighting auxiliary fires on their properties due to increasing fire danger.

On June 17, Cal Fire will suspend burning permits in Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Colusa and Yolo counties, the agency said in a press release Monday.

As is the case every year, fuel burning permits in Lake County were suspended by the Lake County Air Quality Management District on May 1.

The suspension comes several weeks earlier than in 2023, when outdoor burning of landscape waste was suspended in Colusa, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties on June 26. Sonoma County residents had until July 3, 2023, to conduct burns.

Cal Fire may continue to issue limited, temporary burn permits if “there is a good reason related to public health and safety,” the press release said.

The ban does not apply to campfires. Permits for these can be purchased online or at the local fire station.

Cal Fire spokesman Jason Clay said the agency is asking residents to stop fires on their properties earlier because grass that thrived in the winter is now dry and wildfire activity has increased.

“They become more vulnerable to fire and fire spread,” Clay said of grasses and other dry fuels.

Since January 1, the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit has fought 68 wildfires. More than half of those fires occurred in the last three weeks, and the fires have expanded.

Last Wednesday, the Crystal Fire spread to about 60 acres of grassland and threatened structures near Dear Park in Napa Valley. It is the largest fire Cal Fire LNU has responded to so far this year, Clay said.

While the fire is suspended, Cal Fire recommends that residents take other steps to fireproof their properties, such as removing all dead vegetation within 100 feet of buildings, using non-combustible ground covers for landscaping and shredding landscape debris.

Reach staff writer Madison Smalstig at [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @madi.smals.