Don’t be lulled by relatively mild fire season

Past its peak, there’s still potential to burn

Wildfires roaring through eastern Washington on Monday destroyed more than a dozen homes — a stern warning that a relatively quiet Western fire season is far from over.

Six fires have burned more than 70 square miles in recent days, forcing evacuation of more than 300 homes, state Department of Natural Resources spokesman Joe Smillie told USA TODAY. One fire jumped across the Columbia River early Mon- day, a reflection of the strong winds firefighters battled, he said.

Though firefighters in California have battled massive destructive blazes this summer, much of the West has benefited from a relatively calm fire season.

Robyn Broyles, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center, said the season has eased past its peak and is “trending on the lower side” for the year.

“California makes it look like the world is on fire, but it’s not,” Broyles said. She said that even in California, where six major fires are burning, the longer nights as autumn draws closer provided firefighters with cooler temperatures and higher humidity.

Broyles credited a heavy winter snowpack followed by reasonably strong spring rains for the relatively mild fire season. Timber and grasses absorbed more moisture, making them less susceptible to fire. The monsoon season rains were prompt in the Southwest last month, easing fire danger in Arizona and New Mexico. That allowed firefighting resources to shift to other areas where they were needed, she said.

Smillie said Washington had a good snowpack, although it was partially mitigated by the state’s hottest April on record. “May and June were pretty wet, so that gave us some help,” he said.

All is not quiet on the Western fire front, however. More than two dozen major fires that have scorched more than 600 square miles are burning in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming.