In 2018, our state faced the most wildfires on record.
The agency I lead, the Department of Natural Resources, is Washington’s largest wildfire fighting force. Last year, we responded to more than 1,850 wildfires in Washington, starting in March and ending in November.
Every day and night, thousands of firefighters working for DNR — and our federal, local, and tribal partners — performed unbelievable acts of courage, grace, and compassion. These firefighters saved thousands of homes and millions of acres of land, on both sides of our state, in our cities, our towns and our countryside.
These firefighters never asked if the people they were helping had the same beliefs and values as them.
We all should be such caring neighbors.
Whether it’s across the street, across the state, or across the aisle, we have far more in common with each other than the differences we let divide us. We all want what’s best for Washington.
Nowhere is that more important than responding to our wildfire crisis. Wildfire is not an eastside or westside issue, it is a Washington state issue.
At DNR, we are using new strategies to keep Washington safe from catastrophic wildfires. Strategies like positioning firefighters and helicopters in high-risk areas, emphasizing initial attack to keep fires small, and leading interagency training efforts. These efforts helped keep 93 percent of our state’s wildfires under 10 acres last year.
But, despite our best efforts, more than 440,000 acres still burned.
That’s because the number of wildfires we face are growing. In the past 10 years, the number has doubled. And as fires increase west of the Cascades, our firefighters and equipment are stretched more thinly throughout the state. Last year, nearly 40 percent of the state’s wildfires were in Western Washington. And a changing climate, combined with unhealthy and diseased forests, means we don’t have fire seasons anymore — we have fire years.
Despite the scale of this threat and record-breaking amounts of fire starts, DNR’s base firefighting budget has only increased by $2.5 million total over the past decade.
And, as states in our region like California face similar problems, the regional help we used to receive during bad years is not available. That means we have to set our state up for success and make sure we’re more resilient and self-reliant.
Unless we increase up-front investments in wildfire preparedness and the pace at which we restore the health of our forests, wildfires will continue to intensify. This is why I’m seeking a $55 million investment from the Legislature to address our state’s gaps in fire suppression, forest health, and wildfire prevention.
Solving our forest health crisis is a significant focus at DNR. My 20-year Forest Health Plan calls for the restoration of 1.25 million acres of unhealthy forests — on federal, state, tribal, and private lands — treating these areas so that wildfires will do less damage and come under control more quickly. Wildfires don’t recognize jurisdictional lines. So we must work together to turn stands of dead, diseased, and dying trees into healthy, resilient forests.
By preventing wildfires and containing them quickly, we can protect lives and livelihoods, limiting smoke in our air and protecting our forests, agricultural lands, and economy. Our local, state, and federal firefighters every year come together to fight our fires as one team.
In the same spirit, we are coming together to treat hundreds of thousands of acres of overcrowded, weakened forests in Washington. This is a critical step to reverse the course of wildfires that threaten our people, our communities, and our state.
If our firefighters can come together from different walks of life and unite for the common good of Washington, surely we can all do our part to make sure they have the support and training they need.
Surely we can come together to address our forest health crisis and help keep wildfires contained on both sides of the Cascades.
Because right now, we don’t have time to be divided. We have too much to get done.
Hilary Franz is the Commissioner of Public Lands, the elected official who oversees the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
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