elicopters are critical to halting, or at least managing, these confl agrations, and Arizona hosts a broad collection of the craft during the height of its fi re season, starting in the spring and running
typically to July. The helicopters are shuffl ed around as fi res erupt and spread. Then, when the weather in the state enters its “monsoon” season—midsummer, with higher humidity and frequent rain—the powers that be send the aircraft fi rst north, then farther west, to states heading into their own fi re seasons.