2007 record rainfall could create record fire danger

“The entire state is faced with as high a grass fuel load as we’ve ever had,” said Terry Bidwell, rangeland ecology and management specialist with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

Oklahoma’s excess of combustible plant life was caused by this year’s near record-setting rainfall, which also happened to be fairly evenly distributed across the state.

“That fuel load isn’t going to be reduced without some sort of harvesting through cattle grazing or mowing,” Bidwell said.

Bidwell added that the situation becomes even worse when cedar trees are added into the mix, creating “a disaster waiting to happen.”

The greatest danger is for those who live in what is termed the wildland-urban interface, the area where rural lands adjoin suburban housing and business development.

“In that situation, the grasses aren’t grazed and you have grass, cedars and houses coming together,” Bidwell said. “If a fire gets started, it’s hard to fight and even harder to contain without threatening homes and lives, including the lives of the firefighters battling the blaze.”

As Oklahoma moves toward frost, which generally occurs about November first, the situation can potentially become much worse.

“People need to realize that these plants will burn at any time,” Bidwell said. “Right now they have a lot of moisture in them, so they will not burn as rapidly or intensely, though they will generate a lot of smoke.”

Oklahoma’s worst time for wildfires is after frost during periods of low humidity, high winds and a big, dry fuel load.

“It can happen anytime, but it’s most prevalent in the late fall through the winter and into early spring,” he said.

That is why Bidwell contends now is the best time to take steps to reduce the dangers of wildfire.

“If grassland isn’t being grazed, it needs to be mowed,” Bidwell said. “Homeowners need to keep the grass mowed low out to at least 100 feet from their house. Any cedar trees in that 100-foot radius need to be cut down and removed, or at the very least, trimmed so that no branches are closer than six feet from the ground.”

Keeping grass short and tree limbs high prevent flaming grasses from igniting cedar trees, which can then carry the fire to rooftops and soffit vents, or into the upper canopies of deciduous trees that can transform a grass fire into a true wildfire.

“If you live at the top of or on a slope,” Bidwell said, “you may want to clear grass and brush for 300 feet to 400 feet or more from the downward area.”

More information on preparing a home and land for the wildfire season is available at http://www.firewise.org on the Internet, by clicking on “Firewise You Can Use.”

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REPORTER/MEDIA CONTACT:
Ron Dahlgren
Agricultural Communications Services
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Phone: 405-744-3737
Fax: 405-744-5739
E-Mail: ron.dahlgren@okstate.edu

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