Nevada's fire season is off to a slower start than recent years. In 2017, 1.3 million acres burned in the Silver State. Last year, 649 fires burned more than a million acres. As of today, only 353Â fires have burned 67,726Â acres.Â
"Part of it is because our firefighters have been able to get around them quickly and part of it is that we've had higher fuel moisture, which means the fires grow less rapidly," Johnny Siren, Bureau of Land Management said.Â
The heavy snowpack and wet spring also kept fire season from starting until later in the summer. Historically, wet winters lead to very active fire seasons. Siren says there is still lots of time left for things to take a turn for the worse.
"There's a lot of fuel out there," Siren said. "It's had a lot of time over the summer to dry and cure and we're in a really high fire potential situation right now. We have more fuel because of that green time we had earlier this year and any ignition could start a fire easily."
Of Nevada's 353 wildland fires, 95 are under investigation, 136 are human-caused, and 122 were caused by lightning.
"We need continued cooperation from the public when it comes to avoiding those behaviors that can start fires like dragging trailer chains, shooting ammunition irresponsibly on the range land and parking hot vehicles over tall grass," Siren said.
The U.S. Forest Service is seeing much lower numbers, too. By July 23, 2019, there were 49 fires on Forest Service land, burning 10,919 acres. So far in 2019, only 18 fires have burned 123 acres. Those numbers will rise because they do not include fires burning in eastern Nevada yet.
The numbers are lower around the country. As of August 8, he 10-year average in the United States is 40,451 fires and 4.318 million acres. 2019 numbers are at 28,090 fires and 3.575 on the same date. That makes it easier for the BLM to manage resources.
"Because there are fewer fires in the west this season, that means that we have more resources that are available to commit to fires as they pop up," Siren said. "We have the opportunity to call them in when we know a storm is coming and have them strategically placed so that they are where they need to be in order to catch the fire early."
Despite the lower numbers, Siren says this year is more of a return to normalcy after the devastating wildfires over the past few years.
"This is probably close to what an average season should look like but the past few years have done a good job of altering people's perception of what a normal fire season looks like," Siren said.
Fire season usually lasts into the fall months, so there is still plenty of time for the numbers to rise, drastically. Several fires have already started, Thursday, and many continue to burn in eastern Nevada. The Corta Fire has burned nearly 17,000 acres and is 20 percent contained.
