Wyoming Had Below Average Fire Season In 2022

Flooding aside, there was one good thing that came out of the heavy moisture that Wyoming received late in the spring season.

It gave firefighters a break, as the state ended up having a below average fire season in 2022.

Bill Crapser with the State Forestry Division, says there were about 800 fires reported, and there wasn’t one section of Wyoming that had much more than the others.

The Black Hills area in northeast Wyoming dried out more than the rest of the state, and the southwest part of the state ended up being the driest, however fire activity in those areas ended up being below average.

Crapser adds the rains came at the right time, and many fire crews were anticipating and preparing for a fire season that could’ve been much worse.

“We went into the season and all predictions, all our predictive services said we were going to have a really really really heavy severe season. We didn’t have a lot of large fires compared to what we normally would see.”

Crapser says as far as 2023 goes, he anticipates it will be an active fire season, due to the drought continuing in some areas of Wyoming.

He adds it’s too early to tell if the season will be above, below or around average.