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State preps for wildfire season, asks you to do the same

With all the rain we’ve seen this spring, it might feel like it’s too early to start thinking about wildfire season, but the person in charge of Washington State’s firefighting efforts says it’s been time to prepare for a while now.

With drought conditions among the worst our state has seen, 2020 saw the town of Malden virtually destroyed by wildfire, and 2021 came with record heat and smoke that made air quality the world’s worst. The current drought conditions in central and eastern Washington (see map below) are seen as just the start of conditions expected to worsen over time.

(Photo Source: U.S. Drought Monitor)

Last year, Washington saw 1,875 wildfires that burned more than 600,000 acres.  The prediction is this season will be less intense, but that doesn’t diminish the need to prepare now especially, says State Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, because she says wildfires are “not just an Eastern Washington problem” with 35% of them west of the Cascades.  With that in mind, she’s urging you to make sure your home is ready.

Franz says COVID taught us the 6-foot rule, so for your home, “it’s the same rule.  We need now to create that defensible space around our home – that 6 to 10-feet,” Franz says, “Make sure your lawn is green.  Make sure you don’t have trees leaning up against your house.  Clean out your gutters.  Create that defensible space because it will protect your home and your family, and it will also go a long way to protecting our firefighters.”

Franz says in addition to $500 million in new state firefighting funds over 8 years, they’ve increased from 15 to 35 pieces of air equipment and signed exclusive contracts for more so they can attack fires when they start and keep them from growing out of control.  Franz says it’s not just money but help from local, state and federal firefighting agencies that’s needed most when wildfires hit.  That’s why the Department of Natural Resources has been conducting trainings with local fire districts on fighting fires in the “Wildland-Urban Interface” – where neighborhoods are built into forested areas – so that local crews trained in structure protection also have the skills they need to protect homes in those interface areas.

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