(WSIL) -- California, Oregon and Washington are currently experiencing large and powerful wildfires.
Scott Crist, the Fire Managment Officer for the Shawnee National Forest, is now in Arizona--to assist fire departments dealing with a long fire season.
"Every year they'll bring in what they need, and that might be a fire truck or a crew or it may just be an individual to help with coordination or planning or something," said Crist.
Crist said that there are personnel from the Shawnee National Forest in California, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Nevada, and other states across the West.
"We'll be continuing to support Western states and western forces with engines, crews, and personnel probably for the next month or so," said Crist.
While these wildfires are not geographically close, wildfires still occur in Southern Illinois.
"The Shawnee National Forest averages 20 to 30 wildfires a year. Local county and rural generally put out even more fires than that every year," said Crist.
As wildfire season gets closer in Southern Illinois, Crist said it is important to remember how most wildfires begin.
"Nationwide 90% of our fires are started by humans. So lightning accounts for many of the big fires. But not all of them. And in Southern Illinois, lightning accounts for something like 1%. So all of those wildfires are preventable," said Crist.
If you are unsure if the conditions for starting a fire could be potentially dangerous, contact your local fire department to see what the risk is. Even if you are only planning on creating a small fire.
"All fires start small. Like, the biggest fire ever started from one single spark," Crist said.
