LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After a wet winter on Mount Charleston, officials are bracing for the possibility of an active fire season.
Normally, says Ray Johnson, a fire prevention officer with the U.S. Forest Service, fire restriction rules would have started much earlier in the year, though they were just recently implemented.
DROUGHT: Nevada drought conditions improving after wet winter
The rules state that only those at designated campsites and day-use picnic areas can have fires at the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.
Those camping deeper into the forest, and those on the side of the road, cannot have fires right now.
"There was so much precipitation up here (during the winter), all the burnable material, the plants that burn in normal fire seasons, was wet compared to previous summers," Johnson said.
But that vegetation has dried out, meaning it could be easier for fires — either man-made or from natural happenings like lightning strikes — to rage out of control.
It was ten years ago that the Carpenter 1 fire at Mount Charleston started due to a lightning strike. That fire burned over 28,000 acres.
VIDEO: Carpenter 1 Fire 10 years later
"It's unlikely, we hope, that we'd see something like that this season, but we're trying to be prepared as best we can," Johnson said. "The Carpenter 1 fire was a great learning opportunity, but we still need to remind people to be safe."
On Tuesday, Nikki Corda of Las Vegas took advantage of some of the hiking trails in the area with some family members.
The temperature was hovering close to 90 degrees early in the afternoon, though around 20 degrees cooler than in Las Vegas.
"Mount Charleston, to me, is one of my favorite things in Las Vegas," Corda said. "It's a great way to beat the heat in the summer."
Johnson and other fire prevention officials and firefighters in the area hope that visitors are aware of how easily fires can start.
"People just need to use common sense," Johnson said. "Most of our fires here on Mount Charleston are actually from lightning. I do think that people are becoming more educated about wildfires. There's more in the media these days, and I hope that makes people a little more careful."
