Initial Data Suggests Bad Forest Fire Year
Dateline: 7-3-2000
This year is turning out to be the worst start for wildfires in four years. The
reason is "dry, hot weather, weed-choked rangelands, and overgrown
forests" reports Society of American Foresters' spokesperson Traci Robinson.
"Since January, 45,503 separate wildfires have burned more than 1.2 million acres
nationwide—the most recent being the 47,650-acre blaze in Los Alamos, New Mexico and
the two wildfires in suburban Denver that burned 19,000 acres and 53 homes. The number of
acres burned so far this year surpasses the 10-year average of 741,169 acres burned during
the same time period by 500,000 acres."
Changes in forests and range lands are being blamed for the wildfire increase.
Decreased logging in the West and efforts to suppress fires have made the forests more
dense. The increased density causes some of the excess growth to die, dry out and
eventually become fuel for wildfires. The smaller trees become passage for flames to reach
higher branches of larger trees. This results in devastating crown fires.
La Nina is also being blamed. This global phenomenon is believed responsible for bringing warm, dry air to states from Florida to southern California over the last two years and for the surge in forest fires.
According to an article published by the Oregonian, the size of an average wildfire in
the 1990s "was 34.4 acres, 40 percent larger than the 20.6-acre fires of the
1970s. The 1990s was the deadliest decade for those who fought wildfires -- 156 were
killed. That compares with 130 deaths in the 1980s."
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