An early-season heat wave across the American west brought with it record temperatures towards the end of the first full week of June, with cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Needles, California all setting daily records.
Las Vegas reached 111°F on Thursday, the same day that saw the always hot Death Valley National Park register an absurd 122°F – the single hottest daily temperature on record within the park. Needles, on the border of California and Arizona just north of Lake Havasu and situated within the Mojave Desert, reached a similarly simmering 115°F that day, too.
As mentioned by Axios, climate change is causing these heat waves to be more intense and longer lasting, and the expectation is that this particular heat ‘dome’ will cause prolonged heat – and drying out – across the west into this week. As a result, many of the national parks and monuments impacted by the heat are getting ahead of the potentially fiery ramifictions that come with these heat surges, and many have begun to enter into specific fire restrictions within their boundaries.
Zion National Park, for instance, enacted fire restrictions across the park over the weekend, with smoking near buildings now banned along with all wood and charcoal fires within their Watchman Campground. As mentioned within the press release, invasive and non-native grasses that have gradually crept into the park are the current issue, as they are drying out rapidly in this heat – and immediately becoming potential kindling for explosive fire expansion.
Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle National Monuments in Arizona implemented similar fire restrictions last weekend as they grappled with the heat (and the conducive fire conditions that come with it).
Those National Park Service locations join Sequioa and Kings Canyon National Parks operating under Stage 1 fire restrictions, as those to NPS stalwarts in California moved to them back on the last day of May in preparation for the extreme heat that would further dry out their grasslands.
Meanwhile, Yosemite National Park officially declared fire season on Friday. While that did not come with immediate implemenation of additional fire restrictions for campgrounds and backcountry camping within the park, it does mean residential pile burning is now not permitted and Yosemite fire personnel will begin inspecting properties to ensure they’ve built appropriate fire defense space around their dwellings.
It’s not outlandish to see any of these announcements, as they usually pop up every single year in these locations. However, it’s disconcerting to see them put in place this early in the summer, as fire season (and the restrictions that come with it) is usually reserved for July at the earliest.
None of this fire restriction news should dissuade you from getting out and visiting these parks, I should add. The heat should at least temporarily prompt you to delay your trip until it’s a bit more inviting, but experiencing any of Zion, Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, & the likes without the ability to have wood fires in campgrounds is still more than worth the trip. Just do your part to make sure that your visit doesn’t turn the parks into a conflagration that changes the park landscape forever, will ya?
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