It’s been a record-breaking wildfire season in North America.

More than 30,000 firefighters are currently battling over 170 fires in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The total acres burned so far in 2015 has reached a staggering 7.1 million acres, and that number expected to rise.

The situation has become so dire that fire fighters from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have been called into action; and in Washington State the Department of Natural Resources is now recruiting citizen volunteers to support their efforts to fight the largest wildfire in state history.

Here in Wyoming, we’ve been lucky to avoid any such infernos thus far and have only had to suffer through smoke, but we must not let our guard down. Wildfire season isn’t over yet.

Our wildfire season runs from June through September and our risk is generally highest from July through August, which is when our climate is dry, grasses die, and we have a higher probability of lightning storms that provide little precipitation.

Last Friday, a lightning-ignited fire began to burn actively about a mile east of Highway 89 in the Spread Creek and Wolff Ridge area of Grand Teton National Park. Twenty-five wildland firefighters were called to suppress the fire because of its potential to rapidly spread, limited availability of resources to manage a large-scale fire, and the fire’s proximity to homes. The firefighters were able to contain the fire to seven acres.

There are more than 4,500 residential homes at risk of being damaged or destroyed during a wildland fire Teton County. As we have seen in other communities across the Nation, some homes survive – while many others do not – after a major wildfire. Those that survive almost always do so because homeowners had prepared for the eventuality of fire, which is an inescapable force of nature in fire-prone wildland areas like Teton County.

Think about the risk wildfires pose to our families, firefighters, homes, and property, as well as the budgets of the Forest Service and our local firefighting agencies.

Said in another way – if it’s predictable, it’s preventable!

This is a big part of why the Alliance joined a coalition of local agencies and non-profits to launch the Wild Neighborhoods website last week (wildneighborhoods.org). Taken together, wildlife conflict and wildfire risk pose separate but related threats to living in Jackson Hole. The Wild Neighborhoods website brings together information from diverse sources and serves as a one-stop shop that makes it easy for you to know what measures you can take to reduce wildlife conflicts and prepare for wildfire on your property. The website can help you reduce your risk by preparing now – before wildfire strikes.

You should also meet with your family to decide what to do and where to go if wildfires threaten your area. Jackson Hole Fire/EMS offers a free consulting service to help ensure a more disaster-resistant Teton County. They will come down and see what your wildfire risks are, then provide you with strategies to lower that risk.

Visit their website for more information or call (307) 733-4732 to set up an appointment.

To report a fire or smoke in Bridger-Teton National Forest or Grand Teton National Park, call the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center at 307.739.3630.

Photo credit: Teton Interagency Fire Effects Crewmember Monitors Fire/National Park Service

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