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Hot, dry weather and fireworks are a bad combo
This year’s fire outlook could be better, the National Interagency Fire Center has listed the entire Pacific Northwest with "above normal" fire danger this July.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. - Hot weather and explosives, not always your local fire departments idea of a good time.
"A good weekend for us on the Fourth of July would be we show up for work. We sit in the station. And we don’t leave." Snohomish Regional Fire Battalion Chief Evan Adolf said. "We just sit here all day and nobody calls us."
This year’s fire outlook could be better, the National Interagency Fire Center has listed the entire Pacific Northwest with "above normal" fire danger this July.
"We know the west side is primed for a large wildland incident. Battalion Chief Adolf said. "We’ve had them last year, we had one up on Highway 2 in the Skykomish area. So the west side is primed for woodland incidents and the Fourth of July can feed that."
From 2010 to 2020, Snohomish County’s population grew nearly 17 percent. Adding over 100,000 new residents, the highest percentage change in the county’s history.
"The population increase, so instead of having a neighborhood where there’s one or two firework shows, you have neighborhoods were there’s 50 to 100 firework shows." He said. "The neighborhoods are much more condensed now. Where we used to have a lot of rural area, we have houses very close to each other. So a problem that one house has can spread to another."
Fire crews ask residents to be mindful of the danger that comes with the Fourth, to take precautions like watering trees and bushes the day of, along with raking the leaves and needles away from their base.
Other safety tips are evergreen.
"Mixing alcohol and firework shows. That’s a big no no. That’s dangerous." He said. "Make sure a responsible adult is supervising the lighting of the fireworks. If you have fireworks at home, call 911 anytime a problem happens. Don’t try to mitigate it yourself. Get us coming."
Battalion Chief Adolf wanted to make clear, don’t wait to call 911.
"If you do have a small fire that starts on the Fourth of July, call 911 right away." He said. "Because the three to five minutes you spend trying to put that fire out is the difference between you having a home and losing your home to fire. So, call us right away."