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As the U.S. fights the spread of the coronavirus, this crisis is hitting us when we'd normally

be getting ready for wildfire season.

And this upcoming season could be a tough one for some states out west, especially California.

I really want to talk about how dry we've been on our two-way this month.

January and February have been abysmal.

The average is almost seven inches and we've received not even a half an inch.

It's really taken a toll.

And with a dry, hot winter, you get a lot of dry vegetation, dry grasses, brush, perfect

kindling for a wildfire.

So right about now we should be gearing up and preparing.

But the firefighters that we rely on to control wildfires are still facing the same pandemic

we all are, like in San Jose.

We've started with one firefighter here spread to four throughout the department.

Two more are symptomatic and are being tested in the firefighters' union.

In some cases, just being a firefighter can put you at higher risk for bad COVID-19 complications

if you've spent years inhaling smoke.

You have this population that is going out into a situation where they are ready to some

degree lung damaged and they're breathing in more smoke and then you have exposure to

this respiratory illness on top of it.

This Kendra Pierre Lewis, she reports on climate for the New York Times.

Recently she wrote an article looking at all of this.

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