To help the state prepare for what she calls a potentially catastrophic wildfire season, Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz recently kicked off the Wildfire Ready Neighbors! program. The campaign connects those in wildfire prone areas with efforts and tools to help home and property owners take proactive step action to better protect their belongings from wildfire. Franz said the program focuses on large steps and small steps alike. One of the easiest things rural property owners can do to give their home a chance during a wildfire is water your lawn all spring and summer.

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“I saw homes in Omak, where that fire, the Coldspring Fire, came racing through and demolished everything but then there was a home that had an irrigated circle just around the home and the home was untouched, because the fire hit that wet lawn and green grass and moved around it.”

Franz said Wildfire Ready Neighbors! is currently a pilot project, being rolled out in three high risk counties: Chelan, Okanogan and Spokane.  She’s hopefully the program can be expanded into the future to include the entire state.

When it comes to the wildfire season ahead, Franz expects 2021 to be significant.

“We experienced that snow, and rain earlier this year, and it’s a bit calming when we get that.  Unfortunately we have seen a lot of hot, dry days, it’s getting hotter, dryer sooner, we’ve seen, just in the last few weeks and months less moisture, all of that quickly dries out the landscape that had that snow and rain, and it doesn’t take much for fires to start.”

Franz noted the Northwest wildfire season is off to an early start with fires reported in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

She added five of the last six wildfire seasons in Washington have been catastrophic, and she predicts this year will be very similar to 2018 and 2020.

Click Here to learn more about the Wildfire Ready Neighbors! program.




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