Fighting wildfires will look different this fire season. Crews are doing essential work now to hopefully prevent the worst fires in areas that are closest to communities.
The WA Department of Natural Resources (DNR) acknowledges their usual setup for a large-scale fire response might not be feasible when a big fire breaks out.
“Times are kind of crazy right now with COVID-19,” said Larry Leach, the DNR’s State Lands assistant manager.
Usually, a large fire response involves different agencies – sometimes from all over Washington and out of state – all gather together and camp at a location near the wildfire.
“We’re bouncing around from fire to fire throughout the summer and there’s a lot of concerns about that. You’re camping, you’re in large groups, you’re traveling a lot. All those things we’ve been taught over the last couple of months to not do, is what’s coming up for us,” Leach said.
He said one idea is to potentially house some of the firefighters in nearby hotels or motels. Another goal is to squash small fires as quickly and aggressively as possible, to keep the staffing levels needed low. Leach said they’re still discussing on an inter-agency level what the best response plans will be.
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But critically - they’re also working on prevention, especially in areas that are closest to communities – hopefully to avoid the massive blazes altogether.
Crews Tuesday from the DNR and The Nature Conservancy met up in the forests near Roslyn with contracted workers to clear out low-level fuel like shrubs and small trees, to thin the forest and restore forest health.
A crew of two with a large forestry mulcher can tackle about 10 acres a day.
This forestry mulcher eats up whole trees in seconds.
They’re targeting trees no more than eight inches in diameter and about chest height, and are specifically looking for the most flammable trees –grand firs.
“All of these forests are just incredibly dense, packed in, in an unhealthy situation. So that's just ripe for wildfire,” said Darcy Batura, a forest partnerships manager with The Nature Conservancy.
The work is being targeted to priority areas near communities. And the Cle Elum-Rosyln community is one familiar with wildfires.
The Jolly Mountain fire in 2017 burned about 38,000 acres. A bolt of lightning ignited the fire on August 11.
“The fire started and it was way out in the Teanaway and it wasn’t clear if it was going to be a big deal. Then one day, the column built up in the sky. And that was the day everything changed,” said Batura. She works for the Nature Conservancy, but also lives in Roslyn.
Hundreds of people in the Teanaway River corridor had to evacuate while Roslyn was on an evacuation watch.
“All you could see was red. It was terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying,” Batura said.
“It was threatening everything. It was threatening my family, my community, my neighborhood,” she said.
Incredibly, all homes and lives were saved.
“We got really lucky,” Batura said.
The work they’re now doing will remove excess fuel from about 130 acres in the area, which will protect the communities below.
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