SPOKANE, Wash. – After two wildfires sparked on Friday and one on Sunday in Spokane County, the Department of Natural Resources is warning the community that this is only the beginning of fire season, but hopefully, more fires can be prevented.
Ryan Rodruck, the wildfire communications manager for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), wants to send a message to the Inland Northwest.
“Please just be careful, help yourselves, be safe, help our firefighters.”
This weekend was a tell-tale sign that fire danger is extreme right now across Spokane County. Rodruck said this is only the beginning, yet so far this summer’s fire season is off to a hot start.
“Caution really is the word of the day as we start to enter another period of hot, dry, and potentially windy conditions,” Rodruck said.
On Friday, the Columbia Basin Highway Fire near Tyer picked up around three p.m., and just a couple hours later, the Upper Cemetery Fire sparked on Government Way around five p.m. And then on Sunday, the Mullan Hill Road Fire ignited on U.S. Highway 195 around six p.m.
DNR said the cause of these fires will be under investigation for several weeks. Rodruck said over 200 personnel were working to suppress the flames between the three blazes.
“We have a lot of crews out, we’re making excellent progress on the existing fires that are on the landscape, we’re ready and prepared for any new fires, but there are some tired faces out on the lines,” he said. “So, we just ask as much prevention as you can exercise that’s going to go a long way to helping our firefighters.”
That prevention can play out in many ways, from tying up your tow chains while driving to keeping cigarette butts in the car and more. Overall, there is a state-wide burn ban in effect on all DNR land or DNR-protected lands.
By law, DNR must recover costs associated with the suppression of wildfires that occur on the 13 million acres of state-owned or private forestland under the department’s protection if those fires were considered to have been criminally or negligently caused.
As this fiery trend continues in Washington, state representative Marcus Riccelli thinks state dollars should continue to support public education, communication, and abatement.
“I work a lot on public health and some of the best dollars spent are around education, so I do think we need to continue to support dollars to educate folks on what can spark major fires that can result in major loss of property and potentially loss of life,” Riccelli said. “These are extremely trying times right now.”
Riccelli went on to add a sentiment the community as a whole can agree with:
“I think the people of Washington state are grateful for all the folks on the front lines of the Fires.”
The Columbia Basin Fire reached more than 200 acres and destroyed three homes. The Upper Cemetery Fire prompted Level 2 evacuations, but those have since been dropped. The Mullan Hill Road fire shut down some lanes of Highway 195 until early Monday morning.
