Rains may dampen fire season

Tall green grass in a lush Flathead Valley arrived this year with the wettest June on record, giving fire officials a long overdue sunny outlook for an upcoming wildfire season.

If timely, intermittent moisture continues for the next few weeks, in fact, the 2005 wildfire season could go out with a whimper.

But more likely the outlook is for a typical fire season, meaning some fires will emerge as they usually do during the hot days of August.

"This is shaping up to be a more normal season than we've seen in the last five years," said Allen Chrisman, fire management officer for the Flathead National Forest.

Only eight fires have scorched the Flathead so far this year, compared with 16 at this time last year and 25 during 2003. That year, wildfires went on a rampage, burning 310,000 acres, mostly in the Flathead Forest and Glacier National Park.

,"In a nutshell, we're running behind of where we normally are at this time for fires," said Dan Cassidy, a fire officer with the state's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation office in Kalispell.

Within the state's protection area - which focuses mostly on low-elevation lands in western Flathead County - 27 fires have broken out this year, compared with 50 at the same time last year.

Cassidy said this year's count is running below the five-year average.

"But we have a lot of fine fuel growth this year, more than in years past," he said. "Chrisman said the persistent rains during May and June caused tremendous growth in grasses.

"You can see it along the roads. The grass is taller than it has been in many years. It'll make a significant fuel bed," Chrisman said. "The moisture we got set us up nicely for a quiet season, but in some regards, it may have added fuel to the fire."

The Flathead forest has a low fire-danger rating, while the state has a moderate rating because of its low-elevation protection area where more people-caused fires tend to occur.

Because the fire season has been quiet, many local firefighters have been dispatched to big fires in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada. The Flathead Hot Shot crew, for instance, was in Nevada just last week, and this week the crew is fighting a fire in South Dakota's Black Hills.

Chrisman said firefighters and other resources gradually will migrate to Northwest Montana if conditions here ripen.

The air tanker base at Glacier Park International Airport is ready for operation, and the Forest Service has reactivated several retardant tankers that were grounded last year because of safety concerns.

There are more helicopters waiting in the wings for firefighting action, he said. The Flathead Forest has one helicopter based at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station, while the state also will have a helicopter assigned to the area.

Chrisman said that the Lolo and Kootenai national forests did not get nearly the precipitation that the Flathead did during the last couple months, so those forests and others are bound to have greater potential for a significant fire season.

For those forests and even the Flathead, there is a common determining factor - where will lightning strike? Heavy lightning storms played a big role during 2003 and other recent busy fire seasons.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com