By ANGIE WAGNER
The Associated Press
The statistics in the Southwest read like a laundry list of bad news: Phoenix has been without rain for four months. Tucson is suffering through its driest winter on record, as is Albuquerque, N.M. Some Tucson homeowners have actually watered cactus plants to keep them alive.
And that’s raising a serious worry: The Southwest’s spring wildfire season could come early.
“The conditions right now are about the worst we’ve seen,” said Jim Payne, spokesman for the Forest Service’s Southwest region. “It’s already brittle dry. All we need is ignitions to see potential fires.”
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