Fire season depends on July weather

It all comes down to rain and lightning in July.

Too much of one or the other will shape the nature of the 2007 fire season in Northwest Montana, which historically gets under way in earnest in August.

"Things are drying out faster than I would like to see them dry out," said Alan Chrisman, fire management officer with the Flathead National Forest. "For this time of year, our live fuel moistures are still pretty good. But our dead fuels are drying out faster than I would like to see."

Bob Sandman, regional manager for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said frequent rain so far this summer has kept forest and grasslands green.

"But we've been having some very hot and dry weather recently … and that could set us up for an interesting fire season," said Sandman, a former national incident commander.

Both Sandman and Chrisman say that significant and frequent rain in July will go a long way in dampening erratic fire behavior in August, a month when rain is typically scarce in Northwest Montana.

"The critical component here is the number of starts we get," Chrisman said. "We don't have any control over the amount of lightning we get in this part of the country. What we do have some control over is the number of human starts we get."

Fireworks are prohibited on the Flathead National Forest, state forest lands and forested areas in general. Forest users are urged to make sure campfires are completely out before they are abandoned.

Chrisman said the general fire danger rating for the Flathead is "low" but moving toward "moderate." Regular patrol flights will soon be under way for fire detection.

The Flathead forest is generally in charge of fire protection in higher elevation forest lands north and west of the Flathead Valley, while the DNRC handles fire protection in lower elevation areas south and west of the valley. Rural fire departments also have protection duties surrounding forested areas, particularly those with homes.

Sandman and Chrisman both said their respective initial attack resources are fully staffed and ready to go. A state helicopter has arrived for duty based out of the DNRC's Northwest Land Office. The Forest Service has an initial helicopter based out of the Hungry Horse Ranger station.

An air tanker base is ready for operations at Glacier Park International Airport, Chrisman said.

So far, there has been scattered and insignificant fires cropping up.

"We had a few starts just last night," Chrisman said Friday, referring to an isolated thunderstorm that swept over the Swan Valley and into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

It resulted in three small suppression fires south of Swan Lake and one near Spotted Bear, he said.

"We're not seeing extreme conditions yet, but we are certainly gearing up for fire season now," Sandman said.

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