Nebraska Forest Service warns of longer and more widespread fire seasons

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Nebraska Forest Service is warning that warmer winters and drier springs are increasing the fire risk in the state.

Wildfires used to be something Nebraska braced for in the heat of the summer.

But now, the forest service said the season is starting earlier and ending later.

“It has now become something where we’re not looking at bad fire seasons; we are looking at bad fire years,” Ben Bohall with the Nebraska Forest Service said Tuesday.

Bohall said he worries this could be the new normal.

“We would typically have a bad fire season once every five to 10 years, and that would primarily be in western Nebraska,” he said. “Well, since about 2012, we’ve started to see those fires happen more often through the entirety of our state.”

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As fire threats grow, so does the need for proactive management.

That means clearing things that fuel fires, like dead trees, and training new firefighters.

Bohall said a priority for the forest service is providing training to volunteer fire departments across Nebraska on battling wildland fires, which he said is different than fighting structural fires.

“We’re trying to get as many departments as possible trained because we know this is no longer a western Nebraska issue,” he said.

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Bohall said there are only six fire departments in the state that are fully staffed and paid.

Other departments are feeling the strain.

“We’re talking 478 fire departments are almost all volunteer,” he said. “These are folks who have jobs in their own communities, have families, responsibilities, who are often being called on to go to adjacent communities or even across the state to give a hand to their fellow Nebraskans.”