Washington State Department of Natural Resources fire division supervisor Colin Robertson, of Longview, looks at a ridge of burning stumps at the Fork Peak Fire west of Pe Ell in September 2014.
Western Washington residents are often more concerned about floods than fires.
This year, the opposite could be true.
“If it stays as the predictions are for the state, then I think our fire risk is high,” said Gregg Peterson, chief of Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine and president of the Lewis County Fire Chiefs Association.
State law designates April 15 as the official start of Washington’s wildfire season. Gov. Jay Inslee declared a statewide drought on May 15.
“We are more concerned about the west side of our state this year because of our drought,” said Janet Pierce, communications manager for the State Department of Natural Resources. “We’re concerned, yes, for the east side, but a lot for the west side.”
As of last Tuesday, 124 fires had been reported this year on DNR-protected land, according to the agency. At the same date in 2014,107 fires had been reported.
“It’s been a bad start,” Pierce said.
A miniscule snowpack in the mountains has led to drought conditions statewide. Areas normally covered with snow until summer months may soon be at risk for fires, Pierce said.
“We’ve got a higher potential to have fires at higher elevations,” she said.
DNR officials are particularly concerned about densely forested areas in Western Washington, such as those on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
“We in the lowlands, down in the valley floors, see a lot of green, but as soon as we get up in the hills … they dry out rather rapidly,” said Peterson.
Some fire districts in Lewis County, including Fire District 5, participate in the State Fire Service Mobilization Plan, which coordinates statewide response to wildfires.
Wildfires burned more than 400,000 acres in Washington last year, Pierce said.
Last year, the Carlton Complex Fire in the Methow Valley, which was caused by a lightning storm, burned more than 250,000 acres. About 2,000 firefighters fought the wildfire — the largest in state history.
This year could be even worse, Pierce said.
The DNR scheduled six wildfire preparedness meetings in April and May to address this summer’s fire risk, all in Eastern Washington cities such as Twisp, Omak and Wenatchee — areas hit hard by the 2014 fire season.
Peterson said four firefighters from Fire District 5 traveled to Eastern Washington to battle wildfires last summer.
“In Fire District 5, we’ve added what we refer to as a co-op engine,” he said.
The district and the DNR partner to staff the brush rig with three firefighters in the event of a wildfire.
“That vehicle would be able to respond outside our boundaries to any district in Lewis County that has a wildland fire,” Peterson said. “It’s a new thing we’re trying out here.”
Lending firefighters to battle more common Eastern Washington wildfires could limit Lewis County’s capacity to fight its own fires.
“Our sending people out … certainly takes away from our ability to respond locally,” Peterson said. “We do have mutual aid and automatic aid contracts with neighboring districts. Sending people out in the past has not been a significant draw on our resources.”
Not all districts can afford to lose personnel even for a short time.
“With our call volume being what it is … we just do not have any excess capacity to send away,” said Chief Mike Kytta, of Riverside Fire Authority.
Homeowners can take steps to protect their property, such as clearing brush to create a defensible space around their homes, Pierce said.
“It doesn’t matter where you live, even if you’re right in the heart of town, it’s good to have defensible space,” she said.
For more information on protecting your home from fires, go to firewise.org.
