Wildfires are big polluters. Should the state use Climate Commitment Act money to fight them?

As cooler, wetter fall weather settles in, promising to extinguish the few remaining major wildfires still burning in Washington, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove stated that, “this was a pretty typical fire season.”

Typical is encouraging, given some of the more destructive wildfire seasons in recent memory. This year, there were 1,851 wildfires that burned 251,840 acres in total.

Importantly, 94% of the wildfires on state land were kept to under 10 acres.

“That is pretty doggone good as far as making sure that we keep the acres small, that we minimize the amount of damage,” State Forester George Geissler noted.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) credited funding from the state under House Bill 1168, which the legislature passed after the devastating wildfires over Labor Day Weekend of 2020.

Nearly 300,000 acres burned in one day that weekend in 2020. A child died, and his parents were severely burned as they fled a wildfire in Okanogan County.

The bill committed $500 million over eight years to help protect communities from wildfires, improve forest health, and allow DNR to purchase more firefighting resources, including aircraft.

Its equipment Battalion Chief K.C. Whitehouse, with Central Mason Fire and EMS, saw in action.

“I can say with absolute certainty that the enhancements made to the DNR aviation program have saved dozens, if not hundreds, of homes from burning down in Mason County,” Whitehouse said.

Upthegrove worries that kind of progress is in jeopardy

Faced with a budget deficit during the last session of the legislature, lawmakers cut the amount of money DNR expected to receive for wildfire prevention and response in half.

Washington State Representative Larry Springer, who sponsored HB 1168, said he plans to ask lawmakers to fully fund it in the next session.

“Because you can’t work on forest health one year and not the next,” Springer said.

That might be a tough sell as lawmakers in Olympia continue to face a budget gap.

“It’s always a question of priorities,” Upthegrove insisted. “There’s never enough money to fund everything we want, but putting out wildfires is a core basic function of government that saves lives and protects property and saves us money in the long run.”

He said preventing or reducing the size of wildfires is simply less expensive than battling large ones.

“It’s a matter of ‘pay me now or pay me later.’ Now is cheaper,” added Springer, who is looking seriously at the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).

Money to fund HB 1168 had been coming from the General Fund, but during the last biennium, an additional $20 million came from the CCA. Springer thinks it could be tapped for more.

The state is supposed to use money raised under the act to fight greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

“Climate Commitment Act dollars are going to be on the table,” Springer said, insisting it only makes sense. “In terms of the carbon that’s thrown into the air by a wildfire. It’s astronomical.”

Upthegrove said there’s added incentive for lawmakers in Olympia to prioritize fighting wildfires.

While central and eastern Washington have traditionally seen more wildfires and smoke, “wildfires are now becoming an all of Washington problem,” according to Upthegrove.

“About 40% of the fires that started this season were in western Washington, and the Bear Gulch fire was the largest fire in western Washington that we’ve seen in a generation,” Upthegrove continued.

The human-caused Bear Gulch Wildfire is burning on 20,233 acres on the Olympic Peninsula and is 50% contained.

The Washington State Legislature convenes for its next regular session on Monday, January 12, 2026.

Read more of Heather Bosch’s stories here.

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