Author Pat Byington - 
From our good friend Mike Kyser at the Alabama Forestry Commission, the severity of the current Drought Emergency and Fire Alert is clearly evident by the drastic increase in the number of wildfires that have occurred in the first two weeks of October 2016 compared to last year – 2015.
The numbers are staggering.
From October 1 thru 13 according to the Alabama Forestry Commission we have had the following number of wildfires and acres burned in 2016, 2015 and 2011:
2016: 494 fires 6,048 acres burned
2015: 22 fires 108 acres burned
2011: 61 fires 588 acres burned
You can easily update these numbers by visiting the Alabama Forestry Commission’s website and using the ‘Date Range’ page on the following link: Alabama Forestry Commission Data website
With no rain in sight until potentially Thursday (and only a 50% chance at that) and temperatures reaching close to 90 degrees, there seems to be no end to the drought of 2016.
Pat ByingtonLongtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.
