John McColgan/U.S. Department of Agriculture

With 8.5 million acres burned so far, 2017 could prove a major year for U.S. wildfires.

Arizona fire officials are predicting an active fire season this year. They say conditions are reminiscent of 2002 and 2011, which led to the Rodeo-Chediski and Wallow fires, respectively.

Jeff Whitney, Arizona’s state forester, spoke about the predictions.

Wildfires are a major force on the landscape after they’re extinguished. That’s the finding of a new paper from scientists at the University of Arizona, which studied areas of the Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico.

Jon Pelletier is a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona and the paper’s co-author. The paper looked at how erosion after wildfires shapes the landscape; it’s in the Journal of Geophysical Research.