CEDAR CITY, Utah — It may not have seemed like the right time to talk about wildfires as snow fell in Cedar City on Tuesday, but turns out it's the calm before the storm.
"This is typically the time of year that all the firefighters start thinking about the upcoming fire season," explained Nick Howell with the Bureau of Land Management
Howell manages investigations into what causes wildfires in southwest and central Utah and how to prevent them.
"Even in southwest Utah, it's not so much of a fire season anymore," he said. "It is a fire year."
Despite the snow falling outside the Bureau of Land Management firefighting headquarters in Cedar City, one of the driest years on record has firefighters worried about the summer ahead.
A newly released forecast by the National Interagency Fire Center showed how southern Utah may be prone to an above-average number of wildfires starting in June, especially when the grass that will grow from current precipitation dries out.
Firefighters have already been working ahead with prescribed burns in the area and proactively cutting out woods and brush before they can burn.
"So we'll go in there and take out all the dead and down vegetation, all the overgrown vegetation, and really try to make that a more healthy environment so we don't have the large fires," Howell said.
Officials are also urging residents in woodland areas to be proactive by making sure dry brush is cleared 30-200 feet away from structures.
"A lot of these communities do have active local fire councils, so we encourage people to get involved in those local fire councils and see how they can be part of the solution and try to protect their own communities from wildfire," added Howell.
There’s one more thing that people driving on the highways can also keep in mind.
"Every year, by far, our biggest cause of human-caused wildfires is vehicles along travel corridors," Howell shared. "So whether that's worn tires blowing apart under the hotter conditions, people dragging chains on trailers, or faulty catalytic converters on their vehicles, we live in southwest Utah. It's a really fire-prone environment."
