Unusually early season wildfires have been making national news recently, including one near Boulder, Colorado again over the weekend. Due to what fire forecasters see as an increasing risk of wildfires across the country, the National Interagency Fire Center has increased the National Preparedness Level to two, effective 5:00 pm mountain standard time yesterday.
The fire preparedness levels are set throughout the calendar year to ensure suppression resources are available for emerging incidents nationwide.
Those levels are determined by fuel and weather conditions as well as fire activity, and fire resources and teams available for suppression.
Of the five levels in the preparedness system, level two is predicated on several geographic areas experiencing high to extreme fire danger. Typically, fire season in the Rocky Mountain Region ramps up in May and June.
