Despite legendary humor over traditionally drenching weather conditions in Forks, firefighting agencies are not laughing at the lack of rainfall so far this year.
In fact, the entire Olympic Peninsula could be in for a scary season, said Jim Heuring, district manager of fire operations for the state Department of Natural Resources.
Heuring’s mind boggles at the statistics: Forks’ traditional average rainfall for April is almost 9 inches.
So far in 2004, fewer than 2 inches have been recorded.
That fact — and statistics put forth by a national agency that predicts fire-danger levels — suggest that Western Washington hasn’t been this vulnerable since the 1920s.
In response, Heuring is considering raising the fire-danger level to “moderate” and lobbying for a region-wide restriction on burning.
It won’t be popular among residents, he admits.
“Normally, it’s April and people think, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get my debris burned before it gets too dry,”‘ Heuring said.
“But it’s April, and it’s already too dry.”
On the opposite side of the Olympics from Forks, an Easter Sunday fire showed firefighters exactly how volatile the region is this month.
Although a blaze on Monte Cristo Ridge northwest of Quilcene charred only four acres, 70-degree temperatures and only 17 percent humidity allowed the fire to explode through branches as it raced up the hill, sending sparks 50 to 100 feet in the air.
At one point, it jumped a firebreak, forcing some of the 70 firefighters called to the scene to evacuate.
It was only April 11.
The possibility of a dry season also concerns Larry Nickey, Olympic National Park fire management officer.
A wildfire in the park last year burned nearly 800 acres around Griff Peak. That blaze lasted from September through October and was the park’s worst in a decade.
Nickey said he hasn’t been faced with instituting fire prevention measures this early in the year since the early 1990s.
But even though last winter’s average rainfall in the park — and on the North Olympic Peninsula overall — measured near normal levels, the snowpack crowning the Olympic Mountains right now is only about 60 percent of normal, Nickey said.
Snowpack is one of several indicators that alert fire officials to possible problems later in the year.
