As fire season becomes more firmly in the rear-view mirror, the aftermath of those burns will begin to show their effects. Those areas are now at an increased risk for floods and mudslides.
“This time of year you definitely will have those mudslides post-fire when the ground is still unstable from being burned and, you know, having things ripped out of it,” said Kelsey Brizendine with the Bureau of Land Management.
If you live or are recreating in an area that was burned by a recent fire, whether it was this year or in years past, there are things to look out for as signs that a minor rain incident may put you in danger.
“If you come into an area and you notice that it’s a very steep terrain and you notice that on either side of that burned area there’s a lot of vegetation, but that burned area doesn’t have any, then there is a pretty good chance that any type of moisture could trigger a flash flood or a slide of some sort,” said Brizendine.