Wildfires

 A bill to spend $125 million to prevent and fight wildfires in Washington sailed through the state House on Thursday and now goes to Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature.

Many say the 2021 wildfire season has begun early, including Washington state’s Department of Natural Resources. The agency says it has responded to an unprecedented 91 wildfires in a single week across our state already.

Washington firefighters continue monitoring a number of small brushfires that flared up late last week and weekend. It is a phenomenon firefighters are seeing more frequently and earlier in the year as each wildfire season moves into western Washington.

Fire crews are working to fully extinguish a brush fire spanning multiple acres in south Pierce County Friday.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is implementing new, temporary burn restrictions in several regions in the state.

The state Senate has unanimously passed a bill to create a dedicated fund to prevent and fight wildfires in Washington.

A bill to create a dedicated fund to prevent and fight wildfires in Washington easily passed the state House of Representatives on Tuesday and will be sent to the state Senate.

The winter months aren’t stopping lawmakers and elected officials from bracing for this upcoming wildfire season. 

A spokesperson for Governor Inslee’s office said federal individual assistance is hard to secure and that the state has only received it once in the last decade, for the 2014 deadly landslide near the town of Oso.

President Joe Biden has approved federal aid for areas in Eastern Washington burned by fires last year. Former President Donald Trump had declined to release the funds earlier because of a long-standing dispute with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

The U.S. Forest Service is asking the public for help in identifying the suspects who stole an estimated $45,000 worth of wildfire-fighting equipment from a guard station in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. 

Wildfire smoke accounted for up to half of all health-damaging small particle air pollution in the western U.S. in recent years as warming temperatures fueled more destructive blazes, according to a study released Monday.

Nearly three months after a wildfire destroyed 80% of the homes in Malden, residents are still waiting for aid from the federal government.

In one day, about 300,000 acres had burned. By the end of the week, it had doubled. That fated, fire-filled week in September has left a scar on Washington state, on the destroyed town of Malden, and in the hearts of two parents who lost their child.

University of Washington researchers believe hundreds of people over the age of 65 have died in our state as a result of hazardous wildfire smoke.