Even with snow falling in late March at the Vail Fire Department, Wildfire Program Administrator Paul Cada is looking ahead to his 15th wildfire season.
He says the overall lack of snow this winter mixed with warm temperatures have firefighters expecting a busy fire season.
“When you look at big fire seasons in Colorado – 2002, 2012 – the snow was a big factor,” Cada said.“How unseasonably warm we have been iputs us maybe in a pinch for the upcoming wildfire season.”
Wildfires have already shown up in Colorado this yea. On top of that, Cada is still trying to hire a seasonal wildland fire crew, which he says hasn’t been easy in Vail, Colorado or around the country.
“Industry-wide it’s getting tougher and tougher to find qualified and willing people to work as wildland firefighters so we are having some struggles as well as state and federal agencies as well,” said Cada.
With summer right around the corner, finding firefighters has been tough thanks to a strong economy and fewer people in the hiring pool.
“One of the downsides of a strong economy is that everyone is fighting for the same people,” said Cada.
Colorado's unemployment rate is 3.1 percent – reducing the number of people applying for firefighting jobs. That has Cada preparing for what could be challenging fire season.
“When there’s snow on the ground and everyone thinks of hitting the slopes this is the time to think about being prepared because when the smoke is in the air and fire is coming at your place it's way too late," said Cada.