Thursday marked the first official day of summer, but it’s also a time of the year when we move into peak wildfire season. At the Southern California Coordination Center in Riverside County, multiple agencies coordinate and manage resources that respond to wildfires across California.
Jennifer Ricci, the Southern Region Chief Staff of Operations says this joint intelligence operation between Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service sends wildfire resources to the southern half of the state. Her counterpart, David Raphael works as the Deputy Geographic Area Coordinate Center Manager.
“From Sacramento to the Mexican border, north-south, from the ocean to the Arizona, Nevada border,” Ricci said.
The center is divided into multiple categories, sending resources from all over the state to current or emerging incidents. At the aircraft floor, it’s a mix of old and new technology. Computers, a board of a map, and markers are the tools of the …