EL PASO COUNTY — The weekend heavy-wet snow in Southern Colorado did not alter plans for a wildfire outlook briefing by El Paso County leaders. “We need to take this serious,” said El Paso County Commissioner, Longinos Gonzalez
The snow brings a reprieve but does not eliminate the fire danger issue. “We were encountering huge fire risk prior to that, and we certainly are going to have a lot of fire risk going forward,” said El Paso County Commissioner, Stand Vanderwerf.
Some vegetation, which is fuel for fires was at 7% moisture just before the storm. It was as dry as lumber dehydrated in a kiln. “They’re [fire fuels] going to recover a little bit, but they’re going to drop right back down again as soon as we get warm weather,” said Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management Director, Jim Reid.
The days of rain and snow knock down fire danger, but safety leaders said offering a break from the fire ban, even temporarily is not in their plans. “It’s just too confusing,” said Reid, “Right now the prediction is we’re going to start getting real warm after this short week of rain and we’re going to be right back up in the 80’s and 90’s, so the key thing is they’re going to keep it in place.”
County leaders encourage residents to review their wildfire preparedness and evacuation plans. They also want more residents to register with the emergency notification system peakalerts.org
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