Fronteras

Arizona continues to grieve the loss of 19 hotshot firefighters, during the summer wildfire season. But, in terms of lost forests, this year was less destructive than average, according to Fire Prevention Officer Carrie Dennett, of the State Forestry Division.

“For the entire state of Arizona, that includes state, private, and federal lands, we had 1,600 fires for approximately 104,000 acres,” Dennett said.

She says the fire-year average is 1,900 fires, burning a total of 157,000 acres. And, she says it's hard to determine if the lower numbers were the result of better education or weather conditions, but that it likely was a combination of the two.