So far, wildfire season is not as bad as usual
The government says wildfires have burned nearly 700,000 acres this year. That’s three times the acreage at this point in 2013 but 40 percent less than the 10-year average for the first five months of the year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It lists 21,530 fires since Jan 1. The average is 26,667 fires.
“Wildfires remain a problem in parts of the West,” said the weekly Drought Monitor. It says 38 percent of the nation – the West, Southwest, and the central and southern Plains are under drought. Three-quarters of pasture and rangeland in California rated as poor or very poor, it said, the worst in the nation. New Mexico had the second-worst rating, 72 percent.