The southwestern states may get relief in February and March, if El Nino drops higher-than-average precipitation as expected, but officials were still cautious.
``Right now it's looking pretty bad,'' said Rose Davis, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho.
Catastrophic fires increased in number and size in the past decade, culminating last year with 7.1 million acres burned and 21 firefighters killed. Federal forest agencies spent $1.4 billion, more than double their budget of $521 million.
The wildfire season typically starts in June in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, and later in the rest of the region. Forest officials say the season could start in April or even earlier without significant snow or rain.
The past three years have been some of the driest on record for those states, and this year, the West's mountain snowpack, which provides much of the arid states' water supply, is as low as 60 percent of average. Trees in the wilderness are green, and many roads that are usually closed by snow during winter months are open and dusty.
``We have to be optimistic,'' said Bob Dyson, spokesman for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona, where wildfires destroyed 462,000 acres last year. ``We can't take any other stance.''
The Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico has started hiring seasonal employees and preparing for fire danger in case El Nino doesn't deliver, and firefighters in the Golden-based Foothills Fire Protection District have their gear ready in their cars.
``It's so warm and dry right now. We're trying to make sure we stay on top of things,'' said Ed Daniels, the district's wildland fire coordinator.
Justin Dombrowski, Boulder's wildland fire manager, said the wildfire season is becoming year-round.
``We see flare-ups all the time,'' he said.
