KOLD News 13National Fire Center predicts short fire season
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Associated Press - March 12, 2010 11:24 AM ET
PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona has been hammered by wildfires over the past eight years but this year it looks like the state may catch a break.
Bureau of Land Management National Fire Weather Program manager Rick Ochoa (oh-CHOH'-ah) said heavy winter rain and snowfall from El Nino should shorten the wildfire season.
Ochoa, based at the National Fire Center in Boise, ID., said things are looking good in the high country of Arizona.
However, Ochoa said there may be fire issues in some of the desert areas, depending on how hot it gets.
The two biggest fires in Arizona history were the Rodeo-Chediski blaze in 2002 that burned almost 475,000 acres.
The second largest, the Cave Creek Complex fire north of Phoenix, burned almost a quarter of a million acres. It followed the last major El Nino event in 2005.
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