While Washington is well prepared in terms of wildland firefighters and equipment, state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said residents need to step up as well.
With the state heading into a hot, dry holiday weekend where people set off fireworks and recreate in the outdoors, Franz said residents need to take steps to avoid starting wildfires.
"We are very much a believer that Washingtonians play a very big part, and we ask them to be one less spark, especially this holiday weekend as they are trying to have fun," Franz said in a media briefing Friday.
Since spring, there have been 600 wildfires statewide that have burned 17,000 acres, with more than half the fires occurring on state Department of Natural Resources land, Franz said. Currently, there are two major fires burning in the state, one of them the Roza Creek Fire in the Yakima River Canyon.
Franz said more than 29 aircraft will be positioned around the state in high-risk areas ready to quickly reach fire scenes. She said the state DNR's firefighting crews are at full complement and additional equipment is ready, thanks to the Legislature appropriating more funding for firefighting.
But the weather isn't helping things.
On the east side of the state, officials are expecting hot, dry weather with winds sweeping through the Columbia Basin, said Matthew Dehr, lead meteorologist with the DNR. The west side of the state is set to experience its hottest Fourth of July in 23 years.
Yakima County was placed under a red-flag warning Friday, meaning that heat, humidity and wind conditions increase fire danger. The National Weather Service in Pendleton, Ore., is forecasting gusts reaching 31 mph at times during the weekend.
Dehr said the weather conditions are likely to continue as the Pacific Northwest goes into an El Niño cycle, which brings warmer weather and less rainfall on this side of the Pacific.
Franz and state Forester George Geissler said that even with all the state's resources, people still need to take steps to prevent wildfires from starting or spreading.
Among the steps the DNR recommended:
—Campfires — where permitted — should be thoroughly extinguished and not abandoned until they are cold to the touch.
—Don't park cars on top of dried grass. A car's exhaust system can reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees and easily ignite dry vegetation.
—Make sure trailers are not dragging chains, which can spark along the highway and start fires.
—Create "defensible space" around homes by trimming trees, creating open space around a home and using fire-resistant landscaping to give firefighters space to protect the house.
"Everybody that is out there, from adults to our kids and grandkids, as long as we stay aware and do what we can not to spark a fire, we can not only protect our natural resources in our communities, but help our firefighters so they don't have to put themselves in harm's way to suppress a start," Geisler said.
