Bad Wildfire Season Predicted

According to federal fire officials, predictions of an intense upcoming fire season have sparked much preparation among state officials who are in the fire zones. The greatest threat lies in the Pacific Northwest, the northern Rockies of Idaho and Montana and the Southwest including southern California. Washington State fire officials have fought more than 70 small fires this year as opposed to the usual 20. The snowpack in the Cascades in Oregon have fallen to well below average, and fire officials are telling people to get ready by creating fire breaks. The raging fires in southern California earlier this year killed 20 people. The entire state of Arizona and the western half of New Mexico are also facing an above normal fire danger. Double the number of acres than last years have already burned in central Arizona due to triple-digit temperatures, double-digit wind speeds and single-digit humidity. In addition these states are facing the possible loss of 33 large air tankers which can drop as much as 3000 gallon of fire retardant on a fire in a single fly over. The tankers were grounded in May when two of the planes broke up in mid-air killing five people. Those tankers are critical because they are the first response in a fire and buy time for the fire crews. New Mexico has repositioned its crews at key vulnerable points and has requested that the U.S. National Guard keep two helicopters on standby. Arizona has asked the governor for an additional $1.5 million to add more firefighters as well as bulldozers. Although there are environmental concerns with bulldozers, there is no choice without the heavy air tankers.