Conditions are ripe this spring for above-normal wildfire activity from the foothills to Kansas.
While Colorado’s overall snowpack looms at 97 percent of historical average, moisture has blessed the mountains and bypassed the foothills and plains.
Adding to a wary wildfire outlook are forecasts that call for more below-normal precipitation, higher-than-normal temperatures and continued windy conditions.
“That’s my doom and gloom forecast through June,” Dan Leszcynski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Thursday at the year’s first meeting of the Jefferson County flood/fire task force.
Already this year, wildfires have blackened more than 4,300 acres in Jefferson County alone – including a 1,600-acre brush fire Sunday that whipped up rapidly from a power pole’s electrical spark.
Last year, fire restrictions blossomed across the state in mid- July. This year, “we talked about doing (fire) restrictions clear back in January,” said Rocco Snart, Jefferson County’s wildfire mitigation specialist.
“People need to be smart out there,” Snart said.
On Jan. 9, Gov. Bill Owens banned open fires on all state-owned land below 8,000 feet elevation.
Colorado Division of Emergency Management officials will meet Thursday with state forest and regional fire representatives to discuss areas of concern and available resources, said division spokeswoman Polly White.
Several counties have imposed open-burning bans, including Arapahoe, Phillips, Lincoln and Prowers.
White said Pueblo, Park and Boulder counties have approved normal ditch-burning to get rid of dried weeds and grasses that could fuel wildfires.
In Jefferson County, officials are asking for road and bridge crews to begin cutting weeds along roads and to free up electronic message boards for expected fire restrictions and a fire ban.
The Sheriff’s Office is working to identify at-risk communities and develop better evacuation plans, said Tim McSherry, who heads the sheriff’s critical incident team.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
