Monday, June 9, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
Greater than normal amounts of dry grass and scrub in Nevada combined with fewer firefighting resources could make for a difficult summer and fall for wildland firefighters.
"My gut reaction is that Nevada is going to have a big season," said Kevin Oliver, assistant fire management officer for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. "El Nino has subsided and I think we're going to go back to regular lightning patterns.
"With the large amounts of fuel out there, we'll probably have a more active season."
Last year there were few lightning storms in Nevada and only 84,200 acres burned, compared with more than 600,000 acres in 2001. Nationally, the 2002 wildfire season was the second-worst in the last 10 years, with more than 7.1 million acres burned.
According to forecasters with the National Interagency Fire Center, Nevada, California, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Alaska and the Great Lakes states are currently the most susceptible to wildfires.
April rains built up the vegetation in Nevada, and the recent heat has sucked all of the moisture out of this new layer of ground cover, fire officials said.
"We're just kind of holding our breath right now when it comes to Nevada, Southern California and Utah," said Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the national fire center in Boise, Idaho. "Nationally it doesn't appear that we'll have as bad a season as last year, but it is very dry in the West."
Firefighters and air tankers -- planes that drop fire retardants -- were stretched thin last season, and this year more than half of the nation's 42 air tankers are still grounded after one crashed while dropping fire retardant near the Nevada-California border last summer.
Eleven C-130 and PB4Y aircraft have been permanently grounded, and the others are being examined by the Federal Aviation Administration in New Mexico, Davis said.
By today, he said the group hopes to have 17 air tankers ready to go, "and more as we move forward," The planes can drop between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of fire retardant at a time. "We're just going to have to use our resources more wisely."
Thirteen air tankers have already been cleared for service and are being spread across the nation, so that they will be close enough to hit fires quickly in any part of the country, Davis said.
The closest air tanker to the Las Vegas Valley is currently in Cedar City, Utah, and was called in to help contain a fire in Moapa that burned 30 acres and a mobile home over the weekend.
Brian Ruffing, a Bureau of Land Management firefighter who runs an interagency helicopter crew in Southern Nevada, said the loss of air tankers is a concern.
"The potential is there for this to be a problem, but it's all going to depend on what kind of season this is," Ruffing said. "If it gets busy it's going to be tough."
Single engine crop duster-type planes are being brought in to try to fill the void left by the air tankers, Ruffing said. At least seven of the smaller planes, which can hold between 400 and 800 pounds of retardant, are being stationed in Nevada, Ruffing said.
Another resource that will not be available in Southern Nevada is the 777th hand crew, a National Park Service "hot-shot" crew that was based at Lake Mead. Funding for the elite crew, which cuts fire lines by hand, was eliminated over the winter, leaving the recreation area with just two engine crews.
There are about 90 of the Type 1, or hot-shot crews, in the country. The crews are considered the best teams for battling wildfires, and they travel the country and the globe helping to contain wildfires. The closest hot-shot crews to Southern Nevada are now in Cedar City and Flagstaff, Ariz.
Another concern for firefighters is the activation of so many National Guard resources across the country for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Nevada Air Guard has used as many as eight Chinook helicopters in the past to assist with firefighting.
"Things could change, but it looks like right now the Chinooks will be here to help with firefighting," said Staff Sgt. Erick Studenicka, a spokesman for the Nevada Air Guard.
Clark County firefighters are also gearing up for the possibility of large brush fires in vacant areas, including the wetlands areas near Sam Boyd Stadium that burned last year.
"That area down by the stadium is always ready to burn," Clark County Fire Deputy Chief Bill Kourim said. "We're just hoping that the word gets out to the public to be careful with their campfires and fireworks."
Fire restrictions that would prohibit campfires, except in fire pits at hosted sites, went into effect Friday for the Spring Mountains, which includes Mount Charleston. It also restricts smoking, fireworks and welding.
"With Mount Charleston you have a heavy fuel load and only one road in or out," said Dick Birger of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "There's not much water up there."
Lee Nelson, a fire manager for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said he is just hoping for a season that isn't as bad as last year.
"The whole world was burning down last year," Nelson said. "I'd like to be able to go back to just a busy year because that would seem calm by comparison."
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