Officials say recent moisture not enough to lift Colorado Springs fire ban

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., (KRDO) - The recent rainfall and snow will not be enough to lift the burn ban, according to fire officials. Tuesday, officials said the moisture is good but won't eliminate the fire danger.

Additionally, fire officials tell people to enjoy this moisture because we're in for a long summer with hot and dry conditions in the forecast.

Jim Reid with the Pikes Peak Regional Emergency Management says the burn ban won't be lifted because once this weather pattern is over the fire danger will be just as high as it was before.

"Now that we've received some of this moisture, it is going to take a while for that fuel to regenerate and get moisture back in and raise relative humidity, but that is only for a short period of time," said Reid, "next week when we are into 80 degrees and wind again, those fuels will be dry and it will be a danger right away, so this is just a really short break."

The recent rain has contributed to plant growth, which is good, but that also brings an increased fuel for fires.  

Kris Cooper, deputy fire marshal for the Colorado Springs Fire department says the vegetation is too dry to retain any moisture.

"We're seeing fuel moisture percentage in the single digits which is really, really scary for our community usually we're seeing a fuel moisture much higher than that so what's that telling us is that those plants and dry fuels are not retaining that moisture," said Cooper.

Fire officials suggest downloading the Everbridge app and signing up for Peakalerts to make sure you know of any evacuation orders.

Right now only a small percentage of the population is registered for those alerts.