Supporters: House Bill 1168 would prevent/stop urban wildfires like Sumner Grade

When the Sumner Grade fire roared through East Pierce County with breathtaking speed only five months ago, the destruction seemed unstoppable, and it lasted for days.

Supporters of House Bill 1168, which would permanently fund more robust fighting and work to prevent wildfires, believe that had the bill been passed earlier, the fires that charred homes and thousands of acres could have been stopped sooner.

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“We wouldn’t have had to have only one helicopter on that fire that we had to spread among three, four, five other fires at the same time,” said WA Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, who oversees the state’s largest firefighting force. “We could have brought in that air resource, kept it full time on the fire and been able to contain it much quicker.”

She said firefighters from East Pierce County and the state were overmatched, overwhelmed and overworked, and she said HB 1168 would have changed that.

“We wouldn’t have had firefighters who were not just working 48 hours with no break but, in some cases, 96 hours with no break,” Franz said.

Supporters said HB 1168 would devote $125 million every two years, with a goal to slow or stop a terrible trend: In Washington state over 10 years in the 1990s, 86,000 acres burned in wildfires on average per year.

In the 2000s, that burning average more than doubled to 189,000 acres per year.

In the last five years, that average blew up to 489,000 acres burned. In 2020, that number exploded. In all, 812,000 acres burned, and 298 homes were destroyed, setting a dark all-time record for a single year. Franz said 2 million homes in Washington state are now vulnerable to wildfire destruction.

The only sticking point, said supporters, is securing funding. Two state representatives told KIRO 7 they believe the bill could be funded without raising existing taxes, using current state general and federal funds.

“This bill would put funding out on the ground that helps put people back to work,” Franz said. “(Newly hired workers) would go into the forests. They’re removing the dead, dying and diseased trees, removing the small diameter, which is literally like kindling in a fireplace. They remove it. They get the product to the mill. They turn it into building product to help our housing crisis.”

Franz said bipartisan support is also being influenced by encouragement from fire chiefs from areas like East Pierce County, where hills remain blackened from September’s fires.

“We’ve got to get this across the finish line if we want to change the trajectory, if we want to save lives and prevent the Evergreen State turning charcoal black,” Franz said.

Cox Media Group