‘We feel we’re ready’: WA Lands Commissioner says restored wildfire budget puts state in better shape for fire season

Washington has fully restored $60 million in wildfire preparedness funding that was cut last year, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove said, calling it a critical investment as the state heads into another fire season amid a fourth consecutive year of drought.

The legislature slashed the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) wildfire preparedness budget from $120 million to $60 million shortly after Upthegrove took office in 2025. He spent the past year lobbying lawmakers across the state to reverse the cut.

“I made it my mission,” Upthegrove told “Seattle’s Morning News.” “I spent a lot of time up and down the I-5 corridor making the case that wildfire prevention and response is a core public safety function of government that even in tough budget times, you need to do the basics.”

The restored funding will go toward grants for local fire departments, aviation resources, staffing, and forest health work aimed at reducing fuel loads. Upthegrove argued the investment is far cheaper than suppression costs, pointing to the $300 million the state spent fighting wildfires last year during what he described as a fairly modest season.

“It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to prevent and prepare for wildfires than to put them out,” he said.

WA faces heightened concern over low snowpack, chronic drought

The Department of Ecology (DOE) has declared drought conditions for the fourth straight year. Upthegrove said that while snowpack alone doesn’t directly increase fire risk, years of consecutive drought leave vegetation less saturated and more vulnerable.

“After four years of drought, those plants don’t get fully saturated. So when there’s a big fire, it can move a lot faster,” he said. “This chronic drought impacts the health of our forests, and that, in return, impacts wildfire risk over time.”

Upthegrove also urged residents to take personal responsibility. Ninety percent of wildfires in Washington are human-caused, he said, and last year saw a record number of fires in western Washington, including the largest on the west side in a generation.

He encouraged residents to follow burn rules, fully extinguish campfires, avoid parking hot vehicles on dry grass, and create defensible space around homes near forested areas. DNR offers technical assistance and grant funding to help homeowners with that work.

“We feel we’re ready,” Upthegrove said. “We have the best firefighting professionals in the country.”

Manda Factor is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. Follow Manda on X and email her here. 

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