State extends burn ban to Western Washington protected forest lands
Jul 11, 2014, 1:16 PM | Updated: 1:40 pm
A burn ban on state-protected forest lands has been extended to all of Washington because of increasing fire danger.
The burn ban prohibits all outdoor burning on lands under control of the state Department of Natural Resources.
“Our weather situation is not that great because it’s so hot and dry and it seems like fire season is off and running a little bit ahead of schedule,” said DNR spokeswoman Janet Pearce. “We’ve already had 265 wildfires that DNR has responded to this year.”
Pearce said most of those fires were caused by people.
There are exceptions to the ban. The use of gas or propane stoves and grills are OK but charcoal grills are prohibited.
The Department of Natural Resources protects about 13 million acres of land in Washington.
The burn ban is in effect through Sept. 30.
