Publication Date July 3, 2015 | Associated Press

Early start to Northwest wildfire season; more danger ahead

United States
Vern Smith walks through the rubble of his still smoldering home on June 29, 2015, one of some two dozen destroyed in a wildfire the night before, in Wenatchee, Wash. Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP
Vern Smith walks through the rubble of his still smoldering home on June 29, 2015, one of some two dozen destroyed in a wildfire the night before, in Wenatchee, Wash. Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP

Predictions of an early wildfire season have come true in the Northwest as low snowpack levels, record warm temperatures and very dry conditions have helped fuel blazes weeks earlier than usual...June brought searing temperatures to many parts of Washington and Oregon, drying out already parched grasses, shrubs, trees and other fuels and increasing their potential to ignite. Many areas in the region had their warmest June on record...The earlier fires are extending the season by an extra three weeks to a month.