There is a significant potential for wildfires this summer in a dozen states, the National Interagency Fire Center warned in its seasonal forecast last week.
Colorado is not one of them.
Because of substantial rainfall in recent months that was 150 percent above average, the center says Colorado’s fire potential is below normal in June, normal for the rest of the summer.
Which is why we were scratching our heads when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack chose Denver to deliver a gloom and drought, all is lost because of climate change, fire season warning sermon in Denver Tuesday.
Said Vilsack, whose agency includes the Forest Service, “climate change, drought, fuel buildup, insects and disease are increasing the severity of catastrophic wildfire in America’s forests.”
“As we approach what could be a tough fire season across the West, we’re doing all we can to ensure that communities are stepping up to be fire-wise and that we have the resources in place to mobilize quickly when fires start.”
That’s just swell Washington cares enough about Colorado to come here and let us know that all-powerful bureaucrats are on top of severe fire warnings out West in the affected states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii and Alaska, as well as Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
It’s great that Washington is here when we don’t need them. We can only hope to receive this much attention if disaster should strike Colorado this year, contrary to the forecast.