Wet winter weather cited in forecast for more summer wildfires

By Jackie Valley (contact)

Thursday, May 12, 2011 | 2:25 p.m.

An abundance of soggy weather during the winter months has created the potential for more wildfires as the summer heat invades the region, officials from the Bureau of Land Management said Thursday.

The wetter winter weather spurred growth of non-native, invasive grasses, which are low-lying and, as a result, conducive to spreading wildfires, said Chris Delaney, assistant fire management officer with the BLM.

“When it rains here, it only lasts a short time, but lighting comes with it,” he said, citing the danger of seasonal moisture coming to the region from the southern coast of Mexico.

About half of wildfires in Southern Nevada originate from lightning strikes, with human activities making up the other half, BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon said.

To prevent human-caused blazes, fire restrictions on federally managed public lands go into effect Saturday for the rest of the hot summer months.

The public lands with fire restrictions include, among others, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the Mount Charleston area, Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

The restrictions prohibit open campfires, smoking outdoors, using an open flame and fireworks on public land.

Cannon advised park-goers to bring portable gas stoves for cooking and to smoke in their vehicles during the fire-restriction period, which likely will last through September.

Park Ranger Andrew Muñoz said campfires at Lake Mead are allowed 100 feet from the shoreline, away from vegetation, in developed campgrounds. Campfires are prohibited elsewhere in the park.

“As people head out, they are going to see a lot more vegetation right on the shoreline,” the product of increased water levels, Munoz said.

People near the shoreline using charcoal grills and starting campfires have caused most of the small fires in recent years at Lake Mead, he said.

Officials said firefighters battled 102 wildland fires last year, which scorched 731 acres.

After a similar wet winter in 2005, wildfires burned about 928,000 acres in Southern Nevada, caused mostly by lightning strikes, Delaney said.

Even so, BLM officials said it’s difficult to predict the number of wildfires for the coming season based on winter weather because a variety of factors contribute to each fire.

Only small brush fires — no wildfires — have appeared in Southern Nevada this year, but a wildfire burned about 80 acres last week across the state line in Tacopa, Calif., Cannon said.