Record low snowpack amid a second straight drought year has wildland managers bracing for what they consider an upcoming wildfire season in which catastrophic wildfires in the Cascades or Siskiyous “seems inevitable.”
State and federal wildfire experts said Thursday in Medford that they expect mid- and high-elevation forestlands to be prime for generating a 2015 fire season that will start earlier, last longer and likely burn hotter than normal in this area known for summer fires.
With minimal or no snow around places such as Howard Prairie and Mount Ashland, the sun’s rays that normally would melt snow and wet the forest instead will be cooking it tinder dry this spring, making slopes more able to carry flames and more susceptible to fire starts caused by lightning downstrikes.
“It seems inevitable,” said Allen Mitchell, fire management officer for the Medford District of the federal Bureau of Land Management. “It will depend on lightning.” Forest Service and BLM teams are training firefighters earlier than most years while trying to amass resources that will help combat fires expected to break out if the region sees a repeat of last year’s 130,000 lightning strikes, Mitchell said.
The primed fuels ranging from downed and dead trees to brush killed during the intense freezes in the 2014 winter will mean fire crews will require larger safety zones around fires and potentially alter attack plans, Mitchell said.
From InsuranceNewsNet.com: https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2015/03/06/catastrophic-wildfires-expected-in-southern-oregon-this-summer-a-603618.html#.VPnlfGbDnwc