Update on state wildfires

Photo courtesy Dept of Natural Resources

From Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz

We’ve been at a Preparedness Level (PL) 5 now for just over a month. A PL 5 only happens every few years. This means catastrophic levels of resource imbalance exist between the supply and demand for firefighting needs.

Better to respond to every small fire...
Photo courtesy DNR

In Washington, we’ve been fighting an incredibly high level of fires in every corner of the state. At Washington State Department of Natural Resources, we believe that it is safer, easier and cheaper that we do everything we can to put out a half acre new start than trying to get around it when it’s 10,000+ acres. 

than to wait until it is a very large fire
Photo courtesy DNR

For the last two years and so far this year we’ve been able to keep 95% of these fires below 10 acres. The key reasons for our success are:

1. we utilize full suppression and initial attack for all wildfires; 
2. we increased our aviation resources to 44 this year— the most ever knowing;
3. we moved our aviation contracts to exclusive use after 2020 so we would always have these air resources when we needed them;
4. we passed legislation that enables a local fire district to make direct request to us for air resources so there is no delay because time is everything between keeping a fire small and letting it get large;
5. we secured funding necessary to increase firefighters, ground resources, new technologies and air craft, and the people critical to making it all work and keeping our firefighters and communities safe; and
6. we have an amazing team of local, state and federal public servants risking their lives and working tirelessly to protect our families and communities.

Planes drop fire suppressant on fires and
float planes use buckets to scoop water from lakes

With a few months remaining of our wildfire season, you can help us continue to keep everyone safe. It’s actually really simple: 1) Don’t start campfires, 2) be careful with your yard and farm equipment, 3) don’t park on dry grass, 4) check your vehicles so nothing drags that can cause sparks, and 5) report wildfires as soon as you see them. Our team will be immensely grateful if you can do your part to prevent any more fires.