slingshot392 Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:43 pm
It's very bad this year, they didn't get a lot of snow cover during the winter so it was drier than normal, then they didn't get a lot of rain while we in Minnesota were almost getting washed away with too much rain, something about the jet stream from what I read. Wyoming is also having a lot of fires, not sure about Montana, apparently South Dakota is also having some, on the news yesterday they said a C-130 that was converted to be a firebomber went down.
Part of the problem is the environmentalists here stop the states Department of Natural Resources from working with the fire departments and do controlled burns on areas like they used to, so there gets to be an excessive amount of underbrush, leaves, and dead shrubs that in themselves create a terrible fire hazard. By doing controlled burns, they can get rid of a lot of that and there are certain seeds that actually need the fire to help start them germinating. This is a real problem for the last couple decades, especially out west and unfortunately, each year we are seeing the terrible results by the wildfires that are getting worse and worse.
Last week I heard on the news is that these were all natural started by lightning, problem is, they haven't had the storms out there. My uncle said it's being reported there by the local news that at least 18 out of the 20 fires at that time (he told me a week ago) were arson or strongly suspected to be arson. Another problem with these fighters is the burning embers really travel from the winds created from the fighters themselves and land in the dry underbrush setting those as well.
God bless the firefighters that come from all over the country to fight these wildfires when they happen as they willingly put themselves in danger as the wildfires aren't always predictable.