North state relatively fire-free ... so far

From a forest-fire lookout station on a mountaintop this weekend, we scanned around untold miles of forest in Northern California. No smoke. No big fires.

Many are praying it stays that way. The season for forest fires hits peak from the end of July through early September, and with 100-degree temperatures forecast for the end of the week, fire managers are walking on eggshells over the prospects.

When it comes to forest fires, a strange dynamic has taken hold in California this year and it is having a big effect on summer camping and outdoors-based travel vacations:

If you were to draw a line from Santa Cruz (at Monterey Bay) straight east across the Sierra to Bishop in Inyo County, you would find that nearly all of the fires have been south of that line.

This is not to minimize the impact to people who live near the 10,000-acre Soberanes Fire (5 percent contained) south of Carmel at the Garrapata State Park area; or the 22,000-acre Sand Fire that has burned 18 homes and threatens 1,500 more, and is only 10 percent contained, in Angeles National Forest.

Above that line in Northern California, the scariest blaze was the Trailhead Fire in the Sierra foothills. It burned 5,646 acres and was 100 percent contained July 15.

For perspective, in the past four years, 898,362 acres burned in 2015, 555,044 acres in 2014, 577,675 acres in 2013, 869,599 acres in 2012. In addition, there were 1.09 million acres burned in 2007 and 1.38 million acres burned in 2008.

As of July 16 (which does not includes the Soberanes Fire or Sand Fire), according to Cal Fire, a total of 2,893 fires had burned 31,837 acres (that has more than doubled in the past week).

Despite the infernos south of the line, the summer is off to a good start across most of the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Shasta-Siskiyou ranges. But only a start.

Over the weekend, most Forest Service districts elevated the fire danger to “severe” and announced strict campfire restrictions. The highest inland temperatures of the year are expected by Friday.

Be safe out there. Right now, everybody’s walking on eggshells.