COLUMBIA SC (WOLO) – Over the last several days, we have watched the devastation that fire has done to Los Angeles County, with a net result, as of this writing,  135 wildfires, over 40,000 acres burned, more than 12,000 structures destroyed, and 24 lives taken. Irmo Fire District Assistant Fire Chief Sloane Valentino, is a Veteran Firefighter, and spent much of his career fighting fires in California, and many times was one of the heroes on the ground in that very area, fighting the same kind of fire, so this even is very close to him, and he knows it all too well. According to Valentino, weather is the biggest reason for the size, speed, and scope of the spreading fire.  He says that the very wet year California had from 2023-2024 led to very thick grass and shrubs.  That thick grass, however, turns dormant this time of year, leaving it dry, brown, and very flammable when the conditions are right.  “And the conditions are more than right this week,” says Valentino. He goes on to point out that a lack of rain and a week or so of low humidity makes the vegetation dry out and it will support fire unusually well.  When you a warm dry wind and you have the conditions for a fire to start easily and grow rapidly. Make it a hurricane force wind and any fire is going to explode in growth and be impossible to stop until the weather changes. Wind driven fires can cast embers ahead of the flames, starting new fires, that are way in front of the suppression efforts behind. The wind fans the embers and subsequent flames, and viola you have fire and a new ember source. Once a house is really going, it’s easy for the wind to push the heat into the next house all the way down the block. Valentino related that he has seen this scenario first hand.  “I’ve been trying to save a house when it seemed like everything suddenly caught fire around us, because it did, and we had to back out. That pegged the pucker meter,” he recalls. Valentino says that the way firefighters can get a handle on the current situation is for the winds in LA to let up, which will allow them to build containment lines and reduce the risk of embers being transported to new burn locations.  He points out that rain would help put out the fires, however, without the strong root system, it could cause widespread mudslides, so in reality not something anybody wants in this set-up. Shifting gears back home, he says that “Our risk of something similar here is low. Not zero, but low. We have had some large vegetation fires that have burned homes and other structures, but there are the anomaly and not the rule.” On the occasion that South Carolina does have a forest fire, the wind is generally NOTHING like the Santa Anna Winds, which are 70+ MPH, so the spread isn’t nearly as fast.  The other big difference is population.  In the LA fires, the first few days were focused on evacuation, not on fire containment, due to the dense population.  In South Carolina, it is faster to remove many less people, and fire fighters can focus on containment a lot quicker. Chief Valentino offers these tips to protect our families and homes: “The best things people can do to protect themselves is to keep an eye on what they’re cooking, make sure they have a functioning smoke alarm, keep a fire extinguisher handy and know how to use it. Keep the extinguisher by the door, in the garage or in a closet closer to your escape route, we don’t want people to risk themselves during a kitchen fire by trying to get into the kitchen to grab an extinguisher. We also promote the idea that if you’re extinguisher doesn’t put out the fire, you’re already in a position to turn and leave easily. Close the door behind you to hold the fire back. You can reach out to Irmo Fire Assistant Chief Valentino via email: [email protected]   Categories: Digital Exclusives and Features, Local News Tags: Irmo Fire, la fires, tyler ryan, valentino