Posted: Monday, 08 February 2010 2:44PM 2010 Fire Season Julie Rogers (02/08/2010)

A below average snowpack and El Nino has some forecasters worried about a bad fire season. We wanted to know how big a role weather played in starting some of the major fires of the past few years. Flathead County Fire Warden Lincoln Chute says, "We're going to plan for the worst and hope for the best." Fire experts are watching the weather closely to help determine what the 2010 fire season might bring. Chute tells the News Channel, "In this country it is pretty hard to say. It is really going to add up to what rains we get in July... Late July and early August." But sometimes rain storms and the lightning that comes with them can cause major blazes. In 2001, the lightning started Moose Fire ripped through about 70,000 acres. Two years later, lightning sparked the Wedge Canyon Fire that destroyed 53,000 acres and seven houses. In 2007, the Jocko Lakes Fire destroyed about 35,000 acres. In total, fires ripped through almost 800,000 acres that year. Chute says, "The lightning has been down a little... That's probably one thing that we worry about because there are so many and they're random and not near roads usually. A lot of times the human caused will be more accessible to fire equipment." But human caused fires have also wreaked havoc in Northwest Montana. The human started Roberts Fire destroyed 36 buildings and about 57,000 acres in 2003. In 2007, the Chippy Creek Fire ripped through 100,000 acres. Chute tells the News Channel, "The fuel moisture are a big thing, wind, slope, what it comes down to around houses for instance is having the stuff cleaned up." Officials say those preparations for this year's season may make more of a difference than the snowpack and El Nino. Chute says, "We got to plan for the worse and prepare for it and try to get the defensible space done." For information on how you can get your home ready for the 2010 fire season, click here. http://www.ktvm.com/pages/6313895.php?contentType=4&contentId=5548078