The National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska,says drought has produced an above-normal wildfire potential this season along the leeward sides of all the Hawaiian Islands, including the western third of Hawaii Island. Most of our state has received above-normal precipitation, but not parts of Hawaii Island. The result: the danger of out-of-control brush fires is significant.
Elsewhere on the United States mainland, the situation is similar. The NDMC says snowpack was disappointing in many states–in Colorado and Utah, they had only half the usual snowpack. Colorado had its first wildfire of 2012 last month in a conflagration that took 700 firefighters more than a week to control the fire. January and February were the driest on record in California.
Hawaii County Fire Department warns residents to clear brush from near their houses, and to have an evacuation plan should there be a fire. They also warn that tossing lit cigarettes out of cars is not only illegal, but not trigger a fire.
The National Drought Mitigation Center says areas on Hawaii Island and elsewhere that have not had soakings of brush, grass, and trees, and the wildfire fuels don’t have water and cannot resist fire. Hawaii Island’s west side usually has a rainy summer season and there have been some mauka showers, with residents hoping for more. Hilo has gotten lots of rain this winter, but other areas around the island vary in how much rain they’ve received.
The NDMC, established in 1995, is based in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The organization helps people and institutions develop and implement measures to reduce societal vulnerability to drought, stressing preparedness and risk management rather than crisis management. It works with several different agencies to collaborate on drought issues–United States Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey, the National Climate Data Center, and international organizations, among others.