Despite the slowest start to a wildfire season in a decade, the head of the U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday his agency is preparing for another busy year, but with fewer firefighters.
Late winter storms have helped bring more snow and rain to some parts of the country, but Chief Tom Tidwell told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that much of the South and Southwest are expected to dry out by May and June as drought conditions persist.
That will give way to a season much like last year, when more than 14,500 square miles — an area bigger than the state of Maryland — were charred. A dozen lives were also lost last year and more than 2,200 homes and businesses were destroyed.
The predicted hot spots for wildfires this year? Tidwell pointed to Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California. “The areas I’m talking about now are influenced by these severe and ongoing droughts, and that doesn’t get changed with any few storms. So the potential is there,” he said.
From MagicValley.com: https://magicvalley.com/news/local/forest-service-predicts-another-bad-fire-year/article_2427d7b0-8b6c-11e2-b44d-001a4bcf887a.html