No amount of planning could control the weather, which provided abnormally high precipitation in the early-to-mid-1990s, followed by several years of severe drought. By 2000, conditions were ideal for a major forest fire on the plateau. Forest deadfall had a moisture content lower than that of well-cured firewood. The heavy rains and snows of the mid-1990s had produced luxuriant undergrowth, while the onset of drought toward the end of the decade had increased its flammability.
