Colorado’s summer wildfire season could be the worst since 2012 and 2013, state officials say
The state has spent millions on high-tech planes and other equipment
Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post
Conditions are setting up what could be the worst summer wildfire season in Colorado since 2012 and 2013, officials said Friday, when devastating blazes ravaged areas across the state.
“It appears that this will probably be the worst one, forecast-wise, in quite some time,” said Mike Morgan, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. “Abnormally dry weather and a dry winter has left our mountains nearly barren.”
While state fire officials hedged that it’s too early to have a hard-and-fast prediction for what fire conditions will be this summer, things aren’t looking up.
Snowpack levels, especially in the southeast and southwest parts of the state, are much lower than normal. On top of that, the U.S. Drought Monitor says as of Thursday that 87.62 percent of the state is either experiencing abnormally dry, moderate drought, severe drought or extreme drought conditions.
Only extreme northeast Colorado and the northern mountains bordering Wyoming are in the clear.
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