With wildfires raging across the state, one of the biggest concerns for the Central Valley is it's high tree mortality. And tackling that problem will take a lot of work.
But Cal Fire is trying to do their part, and soon they will be combating the problem with the same element they're used to putting out, fire.
It could soon become catastrophic.
"We're in the second, going on third year of this problem, so the trees are going to start falling this winter," Cal Fire Division Chief Jim McDougald said.
Over 66 million trees in the Sierra Nevada are now dead thanks to drought and bark beetle.
"We are pretty much the epicenter so we have the majority of the dead trees," McDougald said.
And with all of that fuel in the forest, the risk of wildfire increases tenfold. So one tree at a time, Cal Fire will use ten air curtain burners to help extinguish that problem.
"The air curtain burner is a good option when you start talking about pile burning, just because it's more efficient once you get up to temperature," McDougald said.
So once wildfire season blows through, Cal Fire firefighters will become burner operators, cutting down near roads and communities.
"Priorities are the ingress and egress community protection and protection of public infrastructure," McDougald said.