Forestry Officials Prepare for Intense Firefighting Season

Southern Arizona foresters, bracing for an intense spring fire season, say they won’t have enough fire crews if a rash of blazes hits at once.

That means the Southwest Regional Forest Service may find itself having to decide where to send crews and what fires will be allowed to continue burning, said Dean McAlister, forest ranger for the Coronado’s Santa Catalina District.

Fires that are near homes will be given first consideration, McAlister said. Meanwhile, Arizona officials are looking to other states to find firefighting crews, he said Tuesday.

There have been 43 fires on state and federal lands in Southern Arizona so far this year, burning 6,500 acres--including 31 fires on the Coronado.

The Coon Creek fire currently burning about 30 miles north of Globe on the Tonto National Forest has drawn about 525 firefighters, stretching resources for other areas.

Fueled by dried-out chaparral, manzanita, pine trees and juniper, the Coon Creek blaze has blackened more than 6,300 acres.

Ted Moore, a fire management ranger for the Coronado National Forest, said prolonged monsoon seasons in 1998 and 1999 helped build up quick-burning grasses in lower elevations, while trees and brush at higher elevations have dried out from a lack of snowfall.

Even big logs, which usually have at least 30% moisture content this time of year, are down to only 8% or 9% moisture. They typically don’t get that dry until mid-June.

“We’ve been there for almost a month,” Moore said.

Such logs burn extremely hot, increasing the chance of flames reaching into treetops, creating wind-whipped crown fires, Moore said.

Fire conditions are the driest since 1903-1904, said Paul Flatt, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service, who held out little hope of any rain before expected monsoons in mid-June or July.

The so-called La Nina weather effect, reflecting cooler currents in the Pacific Ocean that affect precipitation patterns across the country, remains firmly in place for a second consecutive year, Flatt said.

It already produced a second dry winter in the Southwest, and forecasters have said there could be a 10% greater than usual chance for a wetter than average summer here, he said.

Adding to those concerns is a shortage of hand crews to dig lines and clear brush from around wildfires.

Many of the men and women who used to work as seasonal firefighters have taken full-time jobs. The supply of workers has really dwindled among a traditionally strong source--the Indian tribes of the Southwest.