Wildland Fire Season Overview

A pool of cold water in the Pacific Ocean has been affecting weather across the United States for the past two years. This weather pattern, called "La Nina," was at its strongest in the late winter/early spring of 2000. The effect was a wet winter in the northwestern United States and dry conditions along the southern tier of the country from California to Florida.

As a result of La Nina and its influence on weather patterns, a combination of dry fuels and dry, hot weather led to what some are declaring one of the most serious wildland fire seasons in U.S. history. The absence of the seasonal monsoons in the Southwest, the dry vegetation and record-low fuel moistures, and the persistently hot weather across much of the West, culminated in a wildland fire season that began early, became intense, and is expected to last unusually long.

Fire activity began in mid-February with large grass fires in New Mexico eastward and northward into Virginia. By the end of February, fires were reported in Texas, Louisiana, and Missouri. A month later several fires were burning in Oklahoma; additional large fires were reported in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota and Indiana.

In April, Type 1 incident command teams managed California’s wind-driven Cabbage fire on the Mendocino National Forest, and the Coon Creek fire on the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. There were also large fires in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Mississippi, New Mexico, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina and North Dakota.

The season began in earnest, however, with an escaped prescribed fire on the Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, New Mexico. By the time the fire was controlled weeks later, 235 homes in the town of Los Alamos had been destroyed and 47,650 acres of land had been scorched.

At the same time, the western United States from Canada to Mexico continued to experience warm and dry, and then hot and continued dry weather. Fuel moistures in the vegetation dropped to unusually low levels.

By mid-July, nine of the 11 geographic areas, including 11 western states and Texas, were reporting numerous large fires, and competing for crews of firefighters, aircraft, equipment, supplies, and overhead personnel. The National Interagency Fire Center declared a planning level of 5–the highest possible–and began implementing plans to address the serious situation.

Meanwhile, more than 20,000 firefighters–all civilian resources–were either working to contain large project fires or extinguish new starts with aggressive initial attack. Federal fire resources were stretched to the limits and firefighters had been on the line for several weeks when military assistance was requested in late July. Within a week of the request, 500 Army troops reinforced civilian firefighters battling a large, stubborn blaze in Idaho. A few days later an additional 500 Marines joined civilian forces on the largest fire in the nation, called the Clear Creek fire, located in the central mountains of Idaho. Fire managers had also requested assistance from their international partners, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. Canada quickly sent three airtankers which were assigned to fires in Montana. A firefighting crew from Mexico, trained by the Big Bend National Park in Texas, was assigned to the Peak Fire in Arizona on August 4. This the first hand crew from Mexico to work on a fireline in the United States.

Today, multi-agency coordinating groups in the Great Basin and Northern Rockies are establishing resource priorities for fires in Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Montana. Two area command teams are established in Montana, to manage the state’s many large fires, and a third is being considered. Fourteen of the 16 Type 1 incident command teams are managing fires, with two of the teams on mandatory rest periods. All 70 of the Type 1 crews are committed and most of the 409 smokejumpers. Of the 428 Type 2 crews, about 15 become available each day to be reassigned to high priority fires.

Still, in order to be prepared for the worst, federal fire managers have requested a third military battalion August 4 to be assigned to fires in Montana. Overhead personnel and firefighting crews from Canada have begun to arrive and an additional 20 Type 1 firefighting crews have been ordered.

As of August 5, more than 30,000 people, including civilian firefighters, National Guard, Army, Marines, and rural fire department personnel were on firelines or supporting fires in 11 western states. A total of 62,944 wildland fires has burned 3,908,261 acres across the United States since January 2000. The 10-year average is 53,769 fires and 2,079,072 acres burned per year.

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