Unrelenting heat mixed with the possibility of lightning and high winds in the coming days will bring Washington its most dangerous fire conditions of the year, state fire officials announced Friday.
The potentially volatile combination arrives as much of the Northwest is already ripe for wildfires and under red flag warnings. Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark urged people to use extreme caution.
“This is a critical fire-weather pattern, notorious for producing large fires with extreme fire behavior,” Goldmark said in a released statement. “We need everyone to take the utmost care not to spark any fires.”
“Extreme fire behavior” means explosive bursts, high speeds and embers traveling long distances, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. A hot, dry summer so far has created tinder-dry conditions across the region, including Clark County lowlands.
The threat of lightning this weekend will be greater in Oregon than in Washington, said Liana Ramirez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. Storms will likely develop over the Cascade mountains, then move east, she said.
But the potential for dangerous fires — lightning-caused or not — exists across the entire region, Ramirez said.
“If a fire was to develop, it would be a threat to grow,” she said.
DNR has positioned crews and equipment in key locations around Washington, according to the agency. Wildfire fighting teams are ready to deploy should a fire develop, officials said.
For now, DNR has enough firefighting resources available due a relative lull in wildfire activity, spokeswoman Janet Pearce said this week. The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center listed four large fires burning in Washington as of Friday afternoon.
So far this year, 655 wildfires have ignited on DNR-protected land. At the same point in 2014 — the worst wildfire season in state history — 455 fires had ignited, according to DNR.
Last year’s season included the Carlton Complex Fire, which scorched more than 250,000 acres in North Central Washington and became the largest wildfire in state history, supplanting the Yacolt Burn of a century ago.
Wildfires have begun earlier and brought greater intensity in recent years, according to DNR. That’s largely caused by years of dry conditions east of the Cascades and weakened forests that are more flammable and more susceptible to disease and insects, the agency said. Washington is also under a statewide drought declaration this year for the first time in a decade.
