By Matthew C. Durkee
Daily Press - Victorville (California)
Copyright 2007 Daily Press
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
VICTORVILLE, Calif. — In a year that is expected to pose a particularly extreme fir danger, warnings and restrictions are ramping up quickly.
The Bureau of Land Management has
issued Stage 1 fire restrictions for California deserts, and the Forest Service has moved a step closer to closing Angeles National Forest.
The fire danger level in the Angeles forest has been raised from high to very high. Only two levels of danger, extreme and Critical, rate worse, and they could warrant closing the forest to public use.
“The increase is intended to raise public awareness that conditions are worsening, and the risk of wildfire in the forest is steadily increasing,” according to the Forest Service.
A report by the National Interagency Fire Center that makes predictions about the desert region’s 2007 fire season says it is starting early with abnormally high dangers.
The report says there is a “high probability that fire activity could increase rapidly with any sudden drying and windy events, particularly in grass or brush fuel types; and fuel moistures are already at or near critical levels.”
The BLM notes that the desert region has already seen several significant wildfires, with dry lightning and highway traffic being major causes.