Washington on wild fire

In state of Washington the expression “the wild fire season” is well known and an annual summer reality. But some years are worse than others and 2015 started burning early and it’s getting worse by the day. They call it the hellacious Pacific Northwest fire season, and it was primed by a poor winter snow pack followed by a summer drought.

With close to 500 000 acres (about 202 340 hectars) burning or having burned, an area larger than Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco and Los Angeles combined, 2015 now marks the worst fire season in the state history.

Washington is divided into Western Washington and Eastern Washington by the Cascade Mountains. Western Washington is typically cooler and rainier as the low pressures roll in from the Pacific and stays west of the mountains. East of the mountains has an inland climate, colder in the winter and dry hot summers. Therefore Eastern Washington is at a much higher risk for wild fires, that’s the nature of it and something to always be prepared for.

Right now north central Washington is an inferno of fires and flames, merged and spread by heat and gusty wind over the last several days. Four huge complex of fires - each bigger than the size of Seattle - are keeping thousand of homes endangered and likewise thousands of residents evacuated. Only in Okanogan County 5 100 homes are threatened by the flames. The Okanogan Complex has already burned numerous structures, but the situation is so chaotic in the huge county that officials have no estimate on how many have burned.

4 400 firefighters are on duty and thousands of volunteers are getting in touch with the Department of Natural Resources to offer their time or equipment in the battle with the fires. A fleet of 34 helicopters and 13 heavy firefighting air tankers is flying morning until dark, dropping retardant and water to try to save homes and hold back the devastating disaster.

Normally June is still a “spring” month, a bit wet and cool, but this summer June broke a heat record and the fires started early in the season. The fact that even the rain forest over at the Olympic Peninsula was burning states that the situation is remarkable and severe. It just shouldn’t be possible!

President Obama declared an emergency Friday in the state, and has ordered federal aid to Washington. The president’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster-relief efforts. That means Washington will get back up to 75 percent of costs for battling the wildfires. The declaration also will provide direct assistance on the ground in affected communities — with food, debris removal, grief counselors and other resources. 

With Washington now among the hardest hit of Western states dealing with unusually fierce wildfires this season, reinforcements are streaming in from other states. Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming and Minnesota are among states which have sent or are sending crews and equipment to help battle blazes here.

Three fire fighters were killed on the mission on Wednesday. Four more are injured, one critically. Countless of people have lost their homes and everything they own. Land and property at the value of millions of dollar are up in smoke. Thousands live in fear for the next hour, the next day and what their lives will be like when the flames eventually are gone and there is only warm, wet and black ashes left. This is truly a hellacious Pacific Northwest fire season.