South Fremont Fire Chief Chris Hill's volunteer department in eastern Idaho fielded 29 fire calls in March. He says that month usually shouldn't produce any. By early May, the count passed 50. Hill calls it potentially the worst season on record.
His roughly 25 volunteers have day jobs. Their availability, training cycles, and mutual aid agreements all assume a June-through-September season. Nobody arranged leave for March.
Idaho addressed one piece this week, adopting "Ready, Set, Go" as a statewide standard to replace the patchwork of county-specific evacuation language that collapsed when fires crossed jurisdictions last season.