Idaho’s wildfire season is off to a slow start compared to 2007 when wildfires burned a nation-high 1.9 million acres, but officials say that doesn’t mean the Gem State won’t see its share of large blazes.

A cold, wet winter and a cool, wet spring has lessened the severity of the start of Idaho’s wildfire season. So far, the state has seen 363 wildfires totaling 21,000 acres burned, while 544 fires had burned across 152,000 acres of forest and range the same time a year ago.

The 2007 Idaho fire season really got going around the middle of July, when blazes like the 600,000-acre Murphy Complex Fire and the massive Cascade Complex east of McCall got their start, and the 48,000-acre Castle Rock Fire that threatened Ketchum started in mid-August.

However, officials caution that Idaho will still have a fire season in 2008, as lower rangelands in southern Idaho have already begun to dry out, and drier conditions are expected to extend into the higher elevation forest by next month. (Idaho Mountain Express)