AMU Emergency Management Public Safety

Wildfire Risk to Remain High for Various US Regions

By Kimberly Arsenault
Contributor, EDM Digest

Officials from the [link url=”https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf” title=”National Interagency Fire Center”] say the threat of wildfires is likely to remain high, possibly through November, for southern California and northern Nevada, due to severely dry conditions, while the fire threat for parts of the Northwest and the northern Great Plains will remain high throughout August due to existing drought conditions. Fire officials also indicate that the fire risk remains high on Hawaii’s Big Island and in northern Wyoming.

Thick grasses, spawned by a wet winter with record snowfall amounts that melted amid higher than normal June temperatures, led to dry conditions that began to increase wildfire risks, including those from lightning strikes. The recent high-heat, some of which set records, has increasingly parched areas throughout the west, pushing fire danger even higher.

Dry Conditions and Fuel Loading

Another report from the [link url=”https://gacc.nifc.gov/oscc/predictive/outlooks/myfiles/assessment.pdf” title=”Geographic Area Coordination Center”] concluded that due to current conditions, “this fall may be one of the most active and dangerous seasons in years due to the high amount of fuel loading from last winter’s rains.”

Dead fuels, including both ‘fine’ and ‘heavy’ fuels, are being pushed uniformly to near-record dry levels, while bug-killed timber has also increased the available fuel loads, most considerably in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Fine fuels include smaller twigs and grasses, while heavy fuels encompass larger limbs and logs, including living trees, where moisture readings are expected to drop to critical dryness levels by the end of August in the predicted danger areas.

“This fall may be one of the most active and dangerous seasons in years due to the high amount of fuel loading from last winter’s rains. ~ Geographic Area Coordination Center, Southern California.”

Southern California’s Santa Ana Winds

For California, the Santa Ana winds that show up sometime in September and last at least through March, also play a factor in the fire season threat because these down-slope winds compress, dropping the humidity level in the air and raising its temperature quickly, thereby increasing the wind speed–which drives this hot air towards the coast. Since the air is also forced to squeeze through narrow passes and canyons, its speed further increases, causing the Santa Ana winds to reach speeds in excess of 40 k/mh with gusts that can be considerably higher, especially at upper elevations. The quickly moving hot air further removes any remaining moisture from area vegetation, which has been plentiful this year due to heavy rainfalls that encouraged the growth of grasses.

[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/small-business-disaster-emergency/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/ngos-filling-gaps-in-planning-response-recovery/”]

Firefighter Danger

As a result of the current fire risk dangers, fire fighters are being cautioned to follow all safety protocols, including LCES, when engaging with high risk fires due to hostile weather conditions and fuel loads.

[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/firefighters-retire/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/firefighting-right-resources/”]

2017 Wildfire Statistics

This year to date, there have been [link url=”https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm” title=”39,000″] total wildfires that have consumed over 5.49 million acres, with 36 active fires burning in 9 states. The states with the highest number of active fires include Montana (11), California (9), Oregon (6), and Washington (3).

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

Comments are closed.