By the time fire season arrives, officials hope the spread of COVID-19 will taper off, but preparations are already being made.
Due to social distancing and other safety requirements, the evacuation center at Beaumont High School could house only 50 residents if the county were to run out of hotel rooms, said Shane Reichardt, spokesman for the Riverside County Emergency Management Department. Other schools and county facilities would open up if more space were needed.
On Monday, a group of neighbors from the small San Bernardino Mountain community of Oak Glen had remained despite evacuation orders. They said COVID-19 had little to do with their decision. Instead, they said they were staying so that they could defend their homes from fire.They sat at picnic tables with a panoramic view of the fire as it crab-crawled down steep slopes, igniting a forest of incense cedars, oak trees and ponderosa and Coulter pines.