Western Washington is a ticking time bomb for fires

June saw record-breaking average temperatures and dry conditions that rival some of the most arid Augusts in Washington history.

Warm, dry weather is part of the perfect storm that has created the highest fire danger some firefighters have seen in their careers.

Janet Pearce, with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, says many residents think Western Washington is immune to wildfire risks, but with dry brush lining roadways across the Puget Sound, it wouldn’t take much &#8212 a spark from a barbecue or a firework &#8212 to start a blaze.

That possibility is worse than ever.

“We’re trying our best every year to get more grant funding to do thinning and reduce fuels around homeowners’ land,” Pearce said. “They need help, we want to be able to support them and be able to chip and shred those things, get their forest in healthy shape, and protect their home. [We want to] teach them about defendable space, so they’ll have a fighting chance.”

In urban areas, though, there’s not much that can be done to prevent fires besides not starting them. That’s why Matt Cowan, Shoreline Fire Chief and President of the King County Association of Fire Chiefs, says he’s asking people to ditch the fireworks this year. He says many people defy fireworks bans, thinking they can handle explosives responsibly, only to start a fire or wind up injuring themselves or others.

“You saw with the Wenatchee fire how far the embers were going &#8212 do you really know where the fireworks debris is going? Have you really created a defensible space?” Cowan said.

Now imagine that fire in the city, where buildings are much closer together.

Crews are able to get in front of fires quickly, but if one were to break out this weekend, all it would take is a slight breeze to grow completely out of control.

“You’ve seen it in other areas, especially in the Midwest or the East Coast of the country, where a windblown fire gets going. It’s very difficult or near-impossible to stop,” Cowan said.

Cowan, along with other fire chiefs across the region, is beefing up staff ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. But there’s a struggle for resources, since many departments are being asked to send as much personnel as they can spare to knock down fires in Wenatchee and Quincy. That’s a balancing act Cowan expects to play all summer.

To make matters worse, this early fire season is also expected to extend later into the fall. Stephen Reedy, fire forecaster with the National Weather Service, says there’s no rain in sight, not this weekend and not for weeks to come.

Usually, it’s the fall precipitation that finally puts an end to big blazes like last year’s Carlton Complex fires, but Reedy says that with conditions looking dry for months, it could take until December’s short days and long nights to eliminate the high fire risk.

“Prior to moving up here two years ago, I was a forecaster in Tuscon, Arizona,” Reedy said, “unfortunately, a lot of this is starting to look familiar to me. Up here in the Pacific Northwest, I should never think that.”