DEER PARK, Wash. — Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz reminded the public that Mother Nature always gets the last word when it comes to wildfires in our region.
“At the end of the day, nature is still in charge,” Franz said.
She addressed this year’s wildfire season at a press conference at the Deer Park Airbase on Friday – highlighting this year’s successes.
An increase in air resources is one of the investments Franz credits to this year’s low wildfire acreage. 44 aircrafts were instrumental in fighting wildfires in the Inland Northwest region and surrounding areas.
This was coupled legislation that streamlined local firefighters’ response times.
She says both of these initiatives were instrumental in keeping 95 percent of this year’s fires contained under ten acres – some of the lowest acreage in a decade.
Franz says the next steps include education and outreach since 90 percent of fires in our region are caused by humans.
“People need to be doing their part to be one less spark and reduce the fires in the first place,” Franz said.
Ken Johnson, the Spokane Valley Division Chief of Prevention and Deputy Fire Marshal also spoke at the press conference. He said that community outreach and events like dump days teach to people dispose of fire fuels like tree branches.
“It’s one thing to know the wildfires are dangerous, but it’s another to understand exactly what you can do and what we aim to teach,” Johnson said.
The Commissioner stressed that this region is still at risk for wildfires, despite the absence of destruction this year.
“That was not luck – that was leadership,” said Franz. “That was leadership of our fire districts, our local fire business, the leadership of our state agency…and everybody else that is working around the clock before fire season and then during fire season.”
Franz urges the community to keep the next person elected to Commissioner of Public Lands accountable for wildfire safety.
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