Trees, grass could dry quickly if weather turns
WHITNEY ROYSTER Star-Tribune environmental reporter | Posted: Monday, August 9, 2004 12:00 am
JACKSON - June and July storms in Wyoming have applied a temporary bandage on the drought wound afflicting the state, according to a state fire management officer.
Ray Weidenhaft with the state forestry division said early summer rains have given "temporary relief" to the dried-out state.
"With the long-term drought, the large fuels, the 1,000-hour fuels (those three to 10 inches in diameter), it's going to take an extended amount of moisture to bring them back to what we would consider normal fuel moisture content," Weidenhaft said. "It helps on the surface, especially on grass fuels. The likelihood of large fires for places that have received all this moisture is relatively small. If we warm up and get winds, it won't take a long time to dry out."
Larry Helmerich, fire information officer with the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center - a group that tracks fire conditions in the area - agreed.
"We're still in a drought; face it," Helmerich said. "It hasn't gone away. We're still in fire danger, but not where it was a few weeks ago."
Several firefighting air tankers - suspended by the government earlier this year because of safety concerns - are back in business, with five under contract in the West.
Weidenhaft said the state has also retained a helicopter for exclusive use for statewide firefighting.
He said Wyoming will likely need it.
"We don't want the rain to give people a false sense of security," he said. "It's really a temporary relief."
Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@mail.trib.com.