Dry Weather Brings Rash of Wildfires to Area, Increased DNR Response

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The Department of Natural Resources’ Pacific Cascade Region, in the midst of abnormally dry and warm March weather, responded to 28 wildfires in a four-day period this week, six of which were within Lewis County.

On Thursday afternoon, DNR public information officer Nick Cronquist said 349 acres had burned in the five-county region — 103 acres alone burned in a fire near Mossyrock Tuesday.

“For us, that warm and that dry in the month of March is way out of the norm,” said Cronquist.

While the cause of individual fires vary from one to the next, a common denominator is that they are manmade.

“The one thing we can go off of — they’re under investigation — but there were no natural causes. So almost all of them have some sort of human part to them, whether it’s an escaped burn pile, interactions with a campfire, or something along those lines. So all of these are a human cause in one shape or form,” said Cronquist.

On Tuesday, multiple Lewis County fire districts and DNR crews descended on a brush fire near Mossyrock. Lewis County Fire District 3 Chief Doug Fosburg said the fire started as a controlled burn by a resident on Bear Ridge Road. The east wind quickly made the fire burn out of control, and spread through 100 acres of rural land.

DNR crews were on hand at least through the next day, to ensure the fire was entirely put out. On Wednesday, a more-than 17-acre fire burned near Randle in an area off Old Barn Road. The area was free of structures, said Lewis County Fire District 14 Chief Jeff Jaques. The DNR is working to determine its cause.

On Friday, the DNR reported on social media there had been 50 wildfires in Washington through the week; 49 were on the western part of the state.

Such an outbreak has caused DNR resources to be stretched thin, essentially postponing other duties for a week, said DNR spokesman Joe Smillie.

“It’s taken a bit of a toll. It’s hard to quantify exactly what the impact is, but it’s at least a week of work that’s not getting done in a lot of the agency,” said Smillie.

Workers within the department have been diverted from their normal jobs to fight fires, he said, even if their jobs aren’t typically as firefighters.

Cronquist said the DNR is currently in the process of hiring for seasonal summer engine crews, but with fire season popping up sooner than is typical, resources have been redirected from throughout the state, along with contracted crews from Oregon.

Current projections show that upcoming summer will also be warm and dry, said Smillie, while noting that forecasts have a tendency to change.

In October 2018, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz announced a $55 million budget to fight wildfires. If granted, the amount doubles the budget. The funds would go toward both improving firefighting responses to fires and improving forest health with hopes of preventing fires entirely.

Smillie said this week’s fire statistics highlight the importance of the request, which currently sits with the state Legislature as budgets are being put together.

“It definitely shows the need,” he said, saying there are 42 full-time wildfire employees with the department. If granted, money would be set aside for hiring 30 more.

Money would also go toward buying two new helicopters, adding to the DNR’s fleet of eight.

On Tuesday, a DNR helicopter was seen dropping water on the fire near Mossyrock. It circled between the fire and Riffe Lake, releasing water on flames as they flared on a hill.

Additionally, the budget increase would allow $17 million to be earmarked for forest health projects, and would create outreach specialist positions to assist in reducing and preventing wildfires.