The 2004 fire season will be remembered as the worst on record in Alaska and a well below average season over the Lower 48 states. Of the 8 million acres burned nationally, around 6.6 million acres were from Alaska. This talk will discuss many of the factors which shaped the fire season including climate, weather, fuels, fire danger and fire fighting resources.

Short bio for Rick Ochoa

Rick Ochoa – National Fire Weather Program Manager, Office of Fire & Aviation, Bureau of Land Management, National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, Idaho.

Rick Ochoa began his career 1976 when he worked part-time as a cooperative education student at NOAA's Environmental Research Laboratories in Boulder, CO and later as a meteorologist intern with the National Weather Service Office in Phoenix. He worked from 1983-1991 as a fire weather forecaster at NWS offices in Sacramento and Boise and from 1991-2001 as the NWS Staff Meteorologist to NIFC. In 2001, Rick began his BLM career as the National Fire Weather Program Manager and he also serves in the National Interagency Coordination Center's Predictive Services Unit.