FILE PHOT0 — A helicopter used by the Wildfire Aviation Division of the Department of Natural Resources drops water from the sky onto a hillside while a DNR firefighter uses a hose to extinguish flames in Mossyrock in March of 2019.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife banned target shooting statewide to help prevent wildfires Friday afternoon.
The announcement comes less than a week after the state's Department of Natural Resources restricted target shooting on its lands. Shooting creates a greater risk in hot, dry conditions as bullets pass through decayed wood, cause sparks off rocks or break into fragments in dry grass.
Fire danger in most of eastern Washington is rated as "high" or "extremely high." The Forest Service banned campfires in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest last weekend and the DNR banned campfires in eastern Washington on Thursday afternoon.
The ban doesn't apply to legal hunting and WDFW's lands division manager Cynthia Wilkerson said it will remain in place until wildfire risks decline. For more information, go to wdfw.wa.gov.
