Fire officials in the state say, despite the loss of lives in the Yarnell Hill wildfire, the number of acres burned this fire season was the smallest in years. Carrie Dennett of the state Forestry Division says about 91,000 acres of state and federal land were charred this year, but that compares to over 200,000, a year ago. Still, she says even small fires can be dangerous.
“Fire can be any size and still be dangerous, and we teach our firefighters to take safety into consideration even if it’s a tenth-of-an-acre fire or 500,000 acres,” Dennett said. “To us it’s no different.”
Dennett says campfire restrictions have now been lifted in 12 of the state's 15 counties. She says Mohave,