Vail Fire Chief Mark Novak has for years said it’s not a matter of “if, but when” the town will experience a major wildfire. Now, “when” may be sooner than anyone thinks.
During a Tuesday presentation to the Vail Town Council, Novak, the town’s fire chief since late 2014, said a changing climate has him worried.
“I’ve never before felt this sense of urgency,” Novak said. “I’m confident we’ll see something impactful in the next decade.”
What’s driving that sense of urgency is a combination of environmental factors that includes shorter winters, more variable precipitation and more days when forests are more likely to burn. That trend has been developing for several years.
This year, Paul Cada, Vail’s wildland fire coordinator, noted the area had “near average” snowfall, but snowpack peaked a month earlier than normal.