Foothills could see bad fire season

In terms of fire danger, the drought is far from over.

In late May, firefighters at Poudre Fire Authority's Station 7 in LaPorte, which specializes in wildland fires, looked at current conditions and concluded that the fire danger this year is worse in some respects than in 2002, considered the worst year of the drought.

Officials are especially concerned about areas below 9,000 feet, said Capt. Ron Lindroth of Station 7. The current dry conditions stem from a couple of reasons. Winter precipitation, which was good in the high mountains, missed the foothills and plains. Also, April was a very dry month for both mountains and plains. Those precipitation patterns combined to make the intermediate or foothills areas--such as Red Feather Lakes and Estes Park --very dry for this time of year.

Wildland firefighters look at three fire danger factors, Lindroth explained: the moisture in large fuels such as fallen trees, the overall potential for fires to get big, and overall precipitation for the year from both rain and snow. The first two factors are worse than at this time in 2002.

"This is a good time to prepare defensible space and make a plan," Lindroth emphasized.

Grasses will begin to dry out in late June, and that always changes fire-danger conditions for the worse, Lindroth noted.