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This year's wildfire season could be the worst in years

And the fires could start earlier than usual.
Credit: Spencer Platt
A man stands near homes destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire are seen from the air in a neighborhood on June 30, 2012 in Colorado Springs, Colorado

ENGLEWOOD — Colorado could be in for the worst year for wildfires since the devastating Black Forest and Waldo Canyon fires.

In Gov. John Hickenlooper's 2018 Wildfire Outlook Briefing, the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control said National Predictive Services models indicate an above average core fire season for the first time since 2012 and 2013 in portions of the state.

"We're about 63 percent of the normal snowpack in a large part of southeastern Colorado," Hickenlooper said. "This would suggest a heightened fire awareness right now in real time.

"Traditionally, we always think that we don't get the really serious fires until after July 1 into July and August and this year might be different."

It's still too early "to forecast with complete accuracy or certainty what the 2018 fire season's going to look like," according to CDFPC's Mike Morgan, but so far ... it's not looking good.

"We think that fire season is going to be worse for us based upon the indicators we're seeing right now," Morgan said.

Emergency crews have some new tools to use in their efforts this year, including a drone that will be used to help find hot spots from up to 400 feet in the air. A contract is also being negotiated for Colorado to use the world's largest firefighting aircraft, a Global SuperTanker, which is based in Colorado Springs.

While these are expected to help minimize damage in the event of a fire, Hickenlooper said he hopes they aren't needed and said it's the responsibility of people to make sure that's the case.

"A lot of this is common sense," Hickenlooper said. "If it's dry outside, don't start a fire. Don't burn brush when you can feel there's an unusually high level of dryness or even a mild breeze."

Complacency is everyone's enemy and "our job is to make sure that people recognize even if we had 110 percent snow pack," it doesn't mean Colorado can't have significant fires when it dries out, Hickenlooper said.

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