SPOKANE, Wash. — With fire season approaching, Spokane Fire already has crews hard at work doing what they can to make sure Spokane’s parks and natural areas are well-protected against fires.
Over the last week, crews have been working on reducing fire risk in Edwidge Woldson Park in Spokane’s Cliff/Cannon area.
The work is the first phase of a larger fire mitigation project, one that could expand if the ‘Together Spokane’ park levy passes in November.
According to city officials, the goal is to make parks like Edwidge Woldson safer for the community.
“If there was a fire here, it would be a fast-moving grass fire, at worst, and we have the ability to catch it prior to that,” said Nick Jeffries, wildland resource planner for the Spokane Fire Department. “This thing would basically be a crown fire. It would have 100-foot flame heights, and that would be uncontrollable.”
Crews have been working across Edwidge Woldson Park’s 30 acres of land and hope to finish by the end of the week. The project is a partnership between Spokane Parks and the Spokane Fire Department.
In addition to improving safety, the work has created more open space for visitors to enjoy.
Currently, the fire mitigation efforts are funded by the Community Wildfire Defense Grant that lasts five years.
“Once that five years has gone, we won’t have any more funding,” Jeffries said. “We need some long-term funding in the city and in the parks to be able to maintain what we’re doing now. We need that levy to be able to maintain that cost.”
If approved, the $240 million levy would help expand safety efforts and clear more areas for new trails.
One of those trails would start at Cliff Drive and go down to Howard.
“[It would come with dedicated parking, lighting, soft trails, as well as trail head improvements along that corridor,” said Garrett Jones, Director of Parks and Recreation.
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