Members of the Alpine Hotshot Crew are arriving at Rocky Mountain National Park for the summer fire season/NPS file

If the current wildfire forecast holds true, the coronavirus pandemic will not prevent one of the nation's top firefighting teams from being in place at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and ready to go.

The Alpine Hotshot Crew, one of two hotshot crews in the National Park Service, has been gathering in park housing in recent days to be ready to go when needed.

"They are a national resource. We are onboarding those crew members this week and next," Kyle Patterson, the park's spokesperson, wrote in an email Friday night. "Some of the crew live locally. However, for those that require seasonal housing, we are spreading them out in some of the park's housing units as best we can."

The hotshots are dispatched throughout the country wherever they are needed during the fire season. It's not unusual for them to be on firelines for up to three weeks straight, then off for two days before heading off to another fire.

The potential for each in April 2020 is not expected exceed what is observed typically. May is a transitional period. Fuels in southwestern areas dry, and fuels across northwestern areas enter peak greenup. The Southwest, California and Alaska begin to more fully enter fire season while other regions remain out of season. A normal transition into the Western fire season across the United States is expected. Areas of concern will be the middle elevations across much of California. In June and July, the West and Alaska enter their peak seasons. Activity across Oregon and Central through Northern California may be above normal. While overall Normal significant large fire potential is expected across most of the Southwest, some portions of the Great Basin and western portions of the Northern Rockies may experience elevated potential and activity as well. -- National Interagency Fire Center.

As with other units of the National Park System, seasonal staffing at Rocky Mountain is being brought back in stages due to the pandemic.

"We hire around 250 seasonals - most of those are for the park's peak season," Patterson wrote. "We are staggering bringing in those seasonal positions that are tied to life, health and safety first."

After the hotshot crew is settled, other seasonal employees tied to life, health and safety will begin arriving in the park in May. Those arrivals will be staggered "depending on housing needs and availability," she added. "These will include seasonal visitor and resource protection rangers as well as other park fire crew personnel."