Wildfires devastating Eastern WA pasture lands, counties seeking donations
Sep 21, 2020, 12:37 PM | Updated: 1:42 pm
A wildfire buring near Omak, Washington in August 2015. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
(Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Wildfires have been pretty devastating on the east side of Washington state this past month. What is the status on the ground right now? Sen. Judy Warnick joined the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH to discuss what things look like and how people can help.
“We are looking for donations of grain and hay, donations of fencing material because a lot of the fires have burned across areas of pasture that ranchers had cattle on, and they are in the process of looking for those cattle right now. So donations really would help, and support for a FEMA designation,” she said.
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“I know the governor did ask for one in Whitman County because of the loss of that community, the Malden community. But Lincoln County, Douglas County, Grant, Okanogan — all those counties have lost significant pasture land and homes,” Warnick added. “So we’re asking for that designation as well.”
Warnick says the conditions have made it difficult at the offset to help.
“It’s still very, very smoky over here. So it’s difficult to get a new airplane to not only fight the fires, but to look for the cattle that are lost and dispersed,” she said. “That’s been a serious catastrophe as well. I couldn’t believe that storm when it came through.”
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She and other Republican senators are also pushing for a special legislative session to help with the needed recovery efforts.
“We sent another letter just within the last week. It was signed by a number of people,” she said. “I know it was signed by all the Republican senators … I know that there is discussion on the majority side, the Democrat side, saying, ‘Hey, it’s time to have a special session.’ So we’re ready to go to work. We haven’t been able to do our job.”
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