El Nino’s Final Blow: Fuel for Wildfires

With the Sierra Nevada snowpack now at about double average levels thanks to El Nino, experts expect plenty of water this summer for farms, cities and environmental needs. But the next El Nino-fostered problem is likely to be wildfires once the explosion of grass and brush dries this summer, officials said Thursday.

Fire officials issued unusually early warnings. Their advice in many areas is to start small, controlled fires to burn piles of trashy vegetation so it won’t become firestorm fodder later.

“Now is the time to eliminate fire hazards,” said Jim Marchio, chief of the California Department of Forestry unit protecting the rural counties of Nevada, Yuba and Placer.

In the higher elevations of the national forests that cover a fifth of California, fire season may be delayed until August by the unusually heavy snowpack.

“Once fire season starts, though, it could be pretty busy,” said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes.

Automated stations scattered throughout the Sierra reported the average statewide snowpack at 183% of normal, said state Water Resources Department spokesman Jeff Cohen.