Fire Officials: Snowpack will delay large fires but also help grasses grow

DRAPER, Utah — State and federal fire officials said there are two sides to Utah’s record-breaking snow when it comes to the upcoming fire season.

“Usually we’ve seen a lot more fire activity earlier in the spring as we were going through the drought,” said Karl Hunt with Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

The mountains full of snow will delay the start of large wildfires, Hunt explained. On the flip side, all the moisture this spring in northern Utah will help fire-fueling grasses grow taller.

“Right now we’re in the green-up stage,” Hunt said. “So we look around and we see all this green on the hillsides—that’s eventually going to cure out. And when those cure, that’s when that fire danger and that fire potential really increases.”

He also warns that grasses could flourish along roadways, making it extra important prevent human-caused fires by keeping vehicles well-maintained, making sure trailer chains aren’t sparking on the pavement and not parking on dry grass.

Lead meteorologist Basil Newmerzhycky with Great Basin Predictive Services said Utah’s snowpack will provide weeks of fire protection in the mid to high elevations.

“Because all that snow has to melt,” he explained, “and once it does so, that exposed ground has to then dry out for an additional six to nine weeks before you can even think about getting a large fire.”

While the grasses are already drying out in southern Utah, Newmerzhycky said the moisture should still delay large fires.

Newmerzhycky said the best case scenario would be for the snow to delay the fire season long enough to coincide with the arrival of the monsoon in July.

“Sometimes when things time right we can actually avoid a significant fire season by having that delay and then that monsoon arriving,” he said.

However, Newmerzhycky said some climate outlooks suggest a delayed start of Utah’s summer storms which could make for a hot and dry July in the central and southern portions of the state.