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Fire vs. drought

Scott C. Reuman (ScottReuman@compuserve.com)
Wed, 25 Oct 2000 21:58:58 -0400

I guess my point about the fire number/intensity vs. wet/dry years is
this: in this dry climate, a year can be both wet and dry, based on
long-term or short-term moisture. Certainly, once dried, fire-prone
materials take a lot of time and moisture to reduce their flammability.
But a wet spring can mean tall grasses and big fires later in the year. At
the same time, a wet week does not negate the fire potential a week later
(as happened in the Magnolia area where a 5 acre grass fire was ignited
accidently by kids less than one week after the snow that essentially
extinguished the Eldorado Fire). This makes analysis difficult. Emotions
tend to run high with decisions like these, and with high emotions, the
decisions may be based on less than clear reasoning.

Scott R.
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