Large wildfires predicted through April; summer could be worse

9:39 PM, Mar 24, 2011   |    comments
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Unless the Front Range sees several rain or snow showers, the U.S. Forest Service says there could be a large fire risk in the months ahead.

"It's not necessarily the amount of precipitation we get, they need to be of large duration as well," Rick Cables, regional forester with the U.S. Forest Service, said.

"Those prefrontal conditions are probably the worse conditions we can get," Tim Mathewson, a fire meteorologist with the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center (RMACC), said.

Prefrontal conditions bring an increase in winds, above average temperatures and low humidity.

"Some of the data indicates we're sitting worse than 2002 right now.... It seems like fire seasons are coming earlier and lasting longer," Cables said.

Mathewson says areas like Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo show above average fire risk in the next 30 to 45 days.

"We're ranging anywhere from abnormally dry conditions to severe drought conditions over Eastern Colorado right now," Mathewson said.

The U.S. Forest Service says they're positioning themselves for the early start, but they say it's the public who plays the biggest part in making sure fires don't reach dangerous levels.

"Keep your lawn mowed, keep it wet, move wood piles. If you have wood composed homes - make sure they're in good shape, leaves are out of the gutters," Todd Richardson, the fuels operation specialist with the Bureau of Land Management, said.

(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)