MOSES LAKE — There are two active fires in Washington as of Oct. 2 but the rest of the fires from the season are contained or just being moderated according to Department of Natural Resources Wildfire Communications Manager Ryan Rodruck. Outside of that, Rodruck said fire season is coming to a conclusion; however, people should still be mindful because new blazes are still starting.
“I would say on the whole, we probably had an above normal fire season would be a good way to categorize it,” Rodruck said. “We did see several large, costly fires that were on the landscape, but overall, during the initial attack, DNR did a pretty outstanding job of being able to hold those fires to 10 acres or less.”
Washington had around 508,000 acres of land burned this year, according to Rodruck. Which is slightly more than the 2023 season but below the ten-year average for Washington. However, there were no catastrophic injuries at any of the blaze sights, firefighters had “slips, trips and falls” but no fatal injuries were documented this season.
“We did see a significant amount of hot, dry conditions, especially in a lot of areas of Eastern Washington,” Rodruck said. “The large, costly fires we did see again were those ones that either were wind-driven in grasslands or had some kind of terrain or technical challenge. That’s why we saw the large, costly ones.”
The biggest fires Washington saw were the Swawilla I Fire at around 53,500 acres, the Retreat Fire at 45,600 acres, the Pioneer Fire at around 39,000 acres, the Cougar Creek Fire at about 24,000 acres and the Williams Mine Fire at almost 13,100 acres.
“The large, costly wildfires that we did see on the landscape were primarily in either wind-driven grasslands, where you have wind aggressively driving fire behavior, or they were located in areas with significant terrain challenges,” Rodruck said. “Pioneer would be an example of that, where you have significant terrain challenges and other topographic obstacles, like a giant lake in between you and the fire. Those challenges were kind of primarily what we saw on the large, costly fires that we had this season.”
Washington owned or contacted 42 aircraft for the fire season. DNR also had access to two Black Hawk Helicopters for emergencies, which were used on the Black Canyon Fire and Retreat Fire this season, according to Rodruck.
“We’re not quite out of it yet, although a lot of those large, costly fires have essentially dropped off the landscape,” Rodruck said. “We are still in fire season. Caution is still warranted and most of those burn bans come with a certain personal responsibility by the public.”
Rodruck explained that around 90% of the fires this season were human-caused, with 50% of them being accidents and 50% of them negligent-based.
“We are in hunting season right now, so before you turn into the night, make sure that that campfire is dead out,” Rodruck said. “Make sure you dig into it, stir it completely, drown it, water, it should be cool to the touch, before you leave it. Make sure that you know what outdoor burning that you’re doing is in accordance with the appropriate burn permits, and that you’ve taken all the precautions to help prevent a wildland fire. Just overall, understand that we’re not quite out of the season yet.”
There are still around ten days of hot and dry conditions forecasted for Eastern Washington, according to Rodruck . Although the fire season is coming to an end, there was still a blaze that started yesterday near Brewster sitting at 1,000 acres and no containment according to DNR. There is a second active fire near the Canadian border scorching around 1,700 acres and 24% containment, according to InciWeb.
“Until we get what we would define as a season-ending precipitation event, be that several days of rain or or even snow, there will still be fire conditions,” Rodruck said.
The Grant County and Adams County burn ban has been lifted according to the Grant County Fire Marshal’s press release. Residential and land clearing burning is not allowed in Moses Lake, Coulee City, Coulee Dam, Electric City, Ephrata, George, Grand Coulee, Hartline, Krupp, Mattawa, Quincy, Royal City, Soap Lake, Warden and Wilson Creek.
The statement also had regulations to keep in mind while burning including notifying local fire departments of a burn and to see if any other restrictions may be in place and keeping a hose or some other source of water available to control the fire. It is illegal to burn anything in barrels. However, one 4-foot by 3-foot by 4-foot pile of natural vegetation may be burned 25 feet away from any structures, it must be unprocessed though. No open burning when wind speeds exceed 10 miles per hour. Finally, no fires after sunset unless the permit specifies otherwise and if the smoke affects neighbors, the fire must be put out.
There is a potential $10,000 fine per day for illegally burning outdoors, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
The Washington Department of Ecology says if someone is burning illegally, or if the smoke from someone’s fire is affecting you, call the Ecology’s tollfree complaint line at 1-866-211-6284. For questions regarding restrictions call the Washington Agricultural Burn Hotline at 1-800-406-5322 or a local fire department.
