Take fire precautions while you can

An Inter Lake news editor described May as “parched” in a headline earlier this week. That certainly describes it well, as the month was the driest May on record in the Flathead.

And it may seem hard to believe this week, as we are drenched by the current spate of rain, but the summer could be parched as well.

No one can predict with 100 percent accuracy, but it even looks like Flathead Lake will not reach full pool by June 15 for the first time since 2001. In large measure, that’s due to warmer-than-average weather and a declining snowpack. In fact, the snowpack in the Flathead River Basin is currently 58 percent lower than average.

What that might mean, looking forward, is a dangerously dry July and August. Be prepared to see the signs near land-management agencies such as the Forest Service reading “Fire Danger: High.”

We’ve been remarkably fortunate for most of the last decade in that wildfires have largely been in unpopulated areas or have been controlled relatively successfully.

Hopefully, that has not meant that people who live on the interface with forested areas have let down their guard, but we are prepared for the worst. Indeed, many residents on large wooded tracts in the Flathead have never yet experienced a bad fire season, and thus may not recognize the speed and force with which a forest fire can devastate the landscape.

Bringing that awareness to the public was one reason the Inter Lake ran two articles on Sunday’s front page about the importance of landowners taking steps to make “fire-safe forests” around their homes.

Private consultant Jerry Okonski has made a career out of creating safe spaces around homes in the woods, and he can offer one-on-one expertise. But there are other resources available too. For free advice and consultations, contact the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation at 751-2270 or the Flathead Economic Policy Center at 892-8155.

Of course, the actual work will cost time or money or both, but it is an investment well worth considering when the alternative may well be seeing your past, your present and your future go up in smoke.