With the first taste of 90-degree weather arriving in the area this week, Escalon fire officials are looking at what could be a busy fire season.

Fire Chief Rick Mello said the weed abatement program is getting underway, a program that officials look to have fully completed by early July.

“The hot weather we had back in March and the hot weather now; predictions are that we will have a busy fire season,” Mello said on Monday.

While that remains to be seen, Mello said it appears as though residents are taking a proactive approach, getting ready for the hot, dry weather ahead.

“We’ve noticed a lot of people have taken care of the weeds early,” the chief said, with some abatement already being done. “Typically, we like to have things sewn up by the Fourth of July, the process does take some time.”

If an area is determined to be in need of weed abatement, notices are sent out to the property owners in hopes that they will address the issue without having to go through an enforcement action.

Last summer, the largest incident in the Escalon area was at McHenry Recreation area, said Mello, requiring Escalon to draw in outside resources to gain the upper hand on the fire.

The chief is hopeful they won’t see a repeat of that this year.

“In January and February, we saw crews from CalFire and the Forest Service, they did a lot of thinning of the area,” Mello explained. “It’s not the heavy vegetation that has been there in the past.”

The next effort will focus on the entryways to McHenry Rec, the chief said, as crews will be looking to do some abatement of the grass that grows up to the edge of the roadway to reduce the fire risk.

As far as staffing levels as the department prepares to enter the busy summer, Mello said they are looking pretty solid.

“Reserve numbers are up and we have a good amount of applicants that have come in,” he said, which should prove helpful in the months ahead.