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Colorado May See Early Start To Wildfire Season

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Apr 22, 2008 5:17 pm US/Mountain

Colorado May See Early Start To Wildfire Season

 Slideshow: Deadly April Colorado Wildfires
Reporting
Paul Day
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) ― Colorado's grasslands and lower elevation foothills are drying out fast. It means the state could be headed for an early start to the traditional wildfire season, according to one expert.

"The low elevations, which is where a lot of the homes are, are drying out really rapidly" said Rick Cables, Regional Forester for the U.S. Forest Service. "We've had some fairly large fires, early."

Such emerging fire prone conditions are a surprise because Colorado is enjoying one of the best high country snowpacks in many years.

April is normally wet, but this month has proved to be unusually dry, warm and windy.

Cables urged homeowners who live in the foothills to think about creating, or improving their "defensible space." It means clearing out brush so structures are defensible in the event of wildfire.

"The recreational public needs to be really careful with campfires and cigarettes and anything that could cause ignition," Cables said.

Last week, two large wildfires in southern Colorado (Ordway and Ft. Carson) proved destructive and deadly. Three firefighters lost their lives. A third wildfire in Boulder last Sunday was put out by a small army of firefighters before it could threaten nearby homes.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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