7,000 lightning strikes in northern Arizona keep fire crews busy
How firefighters manage and fight these fires
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — With the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world, Coconino County has plenty of trees but these trees can become beacons for lightning strikes during monsoon storms.
Flagstaff and surrounding areas were hit hard with storms over the last few days.
Randi Shaffer, public affairs officer for the Coconino National Forest, said the monsoons bring lightning and 911 calls to the U.S. Forest Service.
“Our dispatchers are pretty busy,” Shaffer said. “Over this past weekend, we dispatched 21 initial attack crews to various lightning-caused fires here in the Coconino National Forest.”
Shaffer said that a lightning fire starts on your property, she said to call 911. If which is normal but still keeps their crews busy.
“We typically average about 30,000 lightning strikes here in the Coconino National Forest every single year,” she said.
But each fire requires a specific response.
“Every fire gets a management response,” Shaffer said. “The first type of response is a full suppression. If we’re not fully suppressing a lightning-caused fire, we will start to manage it for other objectives. This is usually for the overall health of the forest.”
However, with major fires blazing in other areas across the country, stopping the fire as soon as possible is their main objective.
“Because the rest of the country is dealing with a severe wildfire season we are fully suppressing all lighting-caused wildfires,” Shaffer said.
While the monsoons can rattle homes with their thunder and lightning, Shaffer said the monsoon and lightning are here to stay.
“Lightning is a normal part of the northern Arizona landscape,” she said. “We’ve had lightning fires here since before we built our houses, before we settled our businesses and we will continue to have lightning for the foreseeable future.”
If a lightning fire starts on your property, she said to call 911.
If you see one out in the forest, call the Forest Service dispatch center at 928-527-3552.
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