Today's Fire Danger Level LOW

Today's Fire Danger Level

Low fire danger level means:

Fires spread slowly and are typically limited by terrain. Most plants won’t ignite easily from sparks. Flames creep along the ground but rarely move beyond the original ignition point, making any blazes easy to contain and extinguish.

Fire season is every season.

Wildfire and Native Plants

Catalina Island’s chaparral and woodlands rely on occasional, low-intensity fires. In fact, chaparral is adapted to burn periodically and contains oils that make it highly flammable when dry. These natural burns clear out dead brush and help certain native seeds sprout, renewing the landscape over time.

But invasive species disrupt this balance. They crowd out or consume native plants, increase fire risk and threaten rare species found nowhere else on Earth. Through the Catalina Island Restoration Project, the Conservancy is restoring native ecosystems to build a more fire-resistant, climate-resilient Island, now and into the future.


Breaking the Cycle

Why Invasives Intensify Wildfire Risk

Recent wildfires on the mainland are a stark reminder of how quickly wind-driven flames can escalate in dry, steep terrain. On Catalina Island, an estimated 35% of the land is now covered in invasive, highly flammable grasses, creating the risk for a damaging fire cycle.

Think of this cycle like a bad habit: the more it happens, the harder it is to break.

After a fire, invasive grasses rebound quickly, like weeds in a garden, crowding out the slower-growing native plants that help resist future burns. Invasive deer accelerate this process by grazing down native seedlings, clearing the way for even more invasive grass to spread.

This dry, fast-burning fuel leads to hotter, more destructive fires, which in turn allow even more invasives to take hold. This self-reinforcing pattern is known as a positive feedback loop, and the longer it continues, the harder it becomes to stop.️‍🔥