HARTFORD, Conn. — In and out, in and out. The office for Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) in Hartford is a flurry of activity on any given weekday afternoon. Some visitors bustle in to obtain or renew permits, but most of those scurrying through the lobby are employees for the department, more than a thousand strong.

Few officials are as busy as Chris Martin, the state forester with decades of experience. The fall is the most frenetic time of year for him, as that is peak season for wildfires.

And lately, the state has not seen wildfires like it has in decades.

“2024 was what we hope to be a very unusual year for Connecticut," Martin said. "We had devastating floods in August in western Connecticut, and then basically the faucet just shut off. An

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