IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Wildfires in Western Washington — Why Now?

There has been an interest in forest fires west of the Cascade Mountains.

Go figure! For years now, I've been preaching the fact that wildland fires just don't happen in eastern Washington, and that we can and will have significant wildland fires in what, for the most part, is wet western Washington.

Now, just this year, there is a much higher interest in wildland fires on the west side of the mountains. This is true from first responders on both sides of the mountains, and the media has picked up on it. Instead of it only being about the arid east, the topic du jour for the moment is fires in the west.

I think that the media has perhaps picked up on messaging coming from the different fire authorities. Here in the Central Puget Sound, there was a huddle of responders considering fires on the west side about a month ago.

One of the impacts of this interest is that I think that fire departments will be less likely to send "the majority" of their wildland brush trucks off to other fires, opting to keep more protection home — just in case.

While the mainstream media has less influence than in the past, this switch in focus is an example that they still have some punch!

See this link for what I wrote about this hazard almost two years ago, Western Washington Not Immune from Wildfire Risk.

 

 

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.