Am I The Only One Wondering How Fire Danger Signs Change In Idaho?
Am I the only one that has ever wondered how or who changes the fire danger signs on the side of the road while driving through Idaho? You know, the ones that sometimes have Smokey Bear one of them holding a "The Fire Danger Is EXTREME Today". Well, they change a lot and I always wondered who had that responsibility.
It turns out that the people responsible for changing the signs are BLM employees like Kelsey Brizendine along with fire investigators, fire prevention, and information staff. So they tell her where the level should be based on current conditions. The signs are actually moved manually, each one sealed with a lock and key. It is easy for them to change the arrow or flip the sign when needed.
The change occurs based on weather conditions, which is pretty obvious. Weather conditions, drought conditions, fuel moisture, fuel loading and the current fire activity is all part of the statistics they put into consideration before changing it.
Brizendine told me that they change it fairly regularly, but won't if the area gets 2 days of rain if the heat is just going to come back within a few days and the danger goes right back up. The organization tends to bump them up every 4 to 6 weeks and once the fire danger get to the "very high" or "extreme" point, they will just keep them that way until drastic changes are seen in the weather. The same would be true for when it is "low".
So, the more you know. I know I can't be the only one who was curious about it. Or maybe I am?