Fire potential well above normal for the summer months in Idaho
Published at | Updated at
McKenna King, KIVI
POCATELLO (KIVI) — Wildfire season is well under way in the western United States, and while Idaho is flying under the radar so far, the National Interagency Fire Center says the fire rise has increased to above normal.
We are just over one week into July, and the hot temperatures keep getting hotter, meaning the dry weather continues.
Right now, just southern Idaho is seeing above average fire potential. As we move into August, however, almost the entire state has well above average fire potential. Those warnings are pertaining to Idaho’s neighboring states as well.
While many parts of the state received more moisture than normal through the month of May, it wasn’t quite enough for the hot weather we are seeing now. Jessica Gardetto, a spokesperson for the NFIC says, “We had a pretty decent amount of precipitation this past spring, and that caused all of those grasses to really grow. Now we’re having these hot and dry temperatures that are drying all the vegetation out, making it ready to burn.”
There are currently 46 large wildfires burning in the western U.S. Fire officials say humans cause an average of 61,000 fires per year as compared to 10,000 lighting-caused fires.
The NIFC is urging everyone to be extremely careful with anything that could start a fire.
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