Much of Wyoming is in moderate or worse drought heading into spring.
“ I was kind of surprised by the lack of snow in a lot of areas,” said State Fire Management Officer Jerod Delay about his travels to meetings around the state. “I thought there was going to be a little bit more around.”
An early outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center anticipates “normal” potential for large wildfires in Wyoming through June. Normal still means fires. A few early-season blazes near Wheatland already caused evacuations in February.
Delay said there’s some uncertainty this year about how much the state will need to help fight fires on federal lands, especially if federal staffing cuts hit firefighting positions.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), told WPR in February none of the fired probationary workers were operational firefighters.
But many of those fired had the qualifications and training necessary to help mitigate burns, several USFS workers told WPR. Between recent re-hirings ordered by the Merit Systems Protection Board and likely new firings in coming months, the size and scope of the federal workforce on public lands this summer remains unclear for the moment.
“ If there's reduced number of federal firefighters, what does that look like and how is that going to impact us? Is state forestry being asked to respond more on federal lands?” Delay wondered. “We just need some of those conversations to happen between the federal and state level to see what that looks like.”
Delay said the state recently sent some strike teams and engines to Texas to assist with fires there, as is normal this time of year when much of Wyoming remains blanketed in snow while the south heats up.
“ There were Type 6 engines and a couple Type 3 engines went down,” he said, adding each engine is crewed by two to four people.
Delay said some federal grant money for training and supplies from the Inflation Reduction Act was briefly frozen after the Trump administration ordered a pause on federal spending.
“They haven't pulled any of it back that I know of,” he said. “It's just we're able to start utilizing those dollars again.”
He said in Wyoming, we could be in for a busy year with the dry grass and low snow he’s seeing around the state.
Spring is a good time to remove brush and flammable materials within 30 to 100 feet of a home, and clean leaves and gunk out of gutters.
