A chill is in the air. The dark hours have overtaken the daylight. Rain has fallen on trees and soaked into the dirt. The risk for big wildfires is largely over in Washington.
“We’re past the point in the season where we’re expecting large, costly fires,” Washington Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Thomas Kyle-Milward said.
While there is still some risk for fires in grasslands in Eastern Washington, especially on hot and windy days, the department is winding down its fire operations.
Wildfire risk in Western Washington, including the Olympic Peninsula and the North Cascades, has been trending downward for “a couple of weeks,” partially because of cooler days and more rain, Kyle-Milward said.
Eastern Washington isn’t completely in the clear, and there were a few relatively small fires last week, all between 60 and 4,000 acres, he said. Fires can still ignite and spread, especially during hot days when grasses and other fuels dry out quickly.
DNR lifted its burn ban on state lands on Sept. 13, and other agencies have followed or are in the process of lifting bans, Kyle-Milward said. The National Interagency Fire Center’s outlook has the fire risk in Washington and Oregon as normal through the end of the year.
A little over 300,000 acres have burned in Washington this year, putting the state on track to fall well below its 10-year average of around 467,000 acres. The state saw about 1,400 fires, which is “near record low,” Kyle-Milward said. Washington had its second- and third-worst fire seasons in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Earlier this year, forecasts indicated the state might see above-normal fire risk in Western Washington due to dry conditions, although meteorologists tempered that by saying the forecast was not showing an extraordinarily high fire risk.
Wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest is expected to grow longer and more intense as summers are anticipated to become hotter and drier. Wildfires in the region have destroyed hundreds of homes and structures, devalued timber sales, closed highways and foiled carbon sequestration plans.
Even the rainfall-rich forests west of the Cascades won’t be spared; research suggests these areas could see at least twice as much fire activity in the 30 years after 2035. For the first time last year, more fires sparked in Western Washington than in Central and Eastern Washington combined. This year, Puget Sound Energy warned customers that it may turn off power to prevent its power lines from sparking during hot and windy days.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources has also undertaken a $500 million attempt to make forests in Central and Eastern Washington more resilient through prescribed burning and thinning treatments.
Outdoor recreationists should check with local authorities on their location’s specific campfire rules, put out campfires and watch out for sparks when operating vehicles, Kyle-Milward said.
