Headline: Fire! Fire!

Watch out, say local officials, wildfire danger is extremely high this summer.

"Potentially a nightmare," is how Hailey Fire Chief Mike Chapman characterized this season’s fire situation.

There’s no question in Wood River Rural Fire Department Assistant Chief Jeff Nevins’ mind, "It’s probably going to be a severe season."

The Wood River Valley is finally climbing out of the record wet spring.

Sage and grasses grew so profusely that now, as the moisture and humidity vanish with summer’s onset, the sun-drenched hillsides are covered with "flash fuel."

"Everything’s drying out," Nevins said. "We’re not even allowing anyone with an [agricultural] burn permit to do any open burning."

Chapman said the wet-spring-dry-summer scenario is the "worst thing that can happen," fire danger-wise.

Hillsides could prove to be more troublesome than forested areas--where the fuel that is thicker and more shaded tends to take longer to dry out.

Both person-caused and lightning-caused fires are equally expected by Ketchum Ranger District Fire Management Officer Bill Murphy.

Even now, he said, though many slopes still look green, the danger is there.

Officials ask that people who build wilderness fires do so only in established fire rings.

Property owners who live edging public lands should clear heavy brush away from their homes and keep bushes and grass maintained and moist.

Officials said they’re ready to face a wildfire this summer.

"We’re ready to roll," Nevins said.