Above-Average Fire Season No Longer Expected For Rocky Mountain Region

DENVER (AP) -- State and federal land managers no longer expect an above-average wildfire season for most of Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

In a revised forecast issued Thursday by Rocky Mountain Area Predictive Services, officials said rainfall and cooler-than-average weather in June helped improve the outlook.

Before this year's season began, the agency said conditions were similar to those found during the devastating 2002 fire season, when one million acres burned across the region. That is three times higher than the region's 10-year average.

However, rainfall and lower temperatures in June as well as April helped change the landscape, according to the report, the final one for the season.

The report concluded that the Rocky Mountain region would still have short periods of above-normal fire danger but not long stretches.

``Average fire activity, which typically includes some large fires, is the most likely scenario,'' the report said.

Despite the improved forecast, there is still a higher risk of fire in some portions of the region.

Land managers said that there is increasing fire potential in portions of northeast Wyoming, where drought conditions have worsened compared to last year. In Colorado, the report found that the driest fuels were on Colorado's Western Slope.

Beetle infestations continue to be a problem in Colorado, Wyoming and the Black Hills. Trees killed by those insects could help spread fires for another year until their needles fall. The dead needles are more likely to catch on fire after a lightning strike and fires may quickly spread from tree to tree.