Do Pierce County wildfires mean we shouldn’t build houses in the woods any more?
Wildfires that rampaged across Pierce County in September showed the necessity to alter development policies and plan more aggressively with fire in mind.
That was the message delivered at a news conference Oct. 15 in Bonney Lake, where homes burned and others were threatened during the Sumner Grade Fire.
Federal, state and county officials gathered to thank firefighters for their efforts and spoke of the increased need to build and secure developments with wildfires in mind.
“We’ve got to do a better job of making sure we’re not building homes in wildfire-risk prone areas,” Hilary Franz, the state Commissioner of Public Lands said.
Following Labor Day weekend, strong winds toppled power lines and transformers, igniting dry vegetation that spread quickly in Graham, Sumner and Bonney Lake.
At least half a dozen smaller fires burned in 72 hours across the county, East Pierce Fire & Rescue’s Chief Bud Backer said.
A Cowlitz firefighter suffered a burned hand while helping to fight the blazes, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier said.
“We were very fortunate it wasn’t worse,” Dammeier said. “These guys were stretched beyond what they could do.”
On Sept. 8 into the following day, firefighters stood at the fence line between the fire and Sumner Viewpoint homes. Almost all the wooden fences burned on the south side of the neighborhood.
Deputy Fire Chief Jon Parkinson told officials that firefighters siphoned off water from an outside pool to pour on the flames.
A Sumner concrete plant, Corliss Resources, brought in 10 water trucks, Pierce County Vice Chairman Dave Morell said.
“It was all hands on deck,” he said.
Hotter, faster fires
Wildfires are burning hotter and faster than before, Backer said. Officials said this is the new normal for Western Washington.
“It is no longer an anomaly,” Franz said.
The wildfires caused long-lasting damage to the area beyond the homes destroyed.
The heat of the fires melted underground sewer pipes, Morell said. Until the pipes can be replaced, sewage and wastewater from the Sumner Viewpoint is being vacuumed into septic pump trucks.
Neighbors have temporarily moved out while their homes are deep cleaned to remove smoke and soot. Yard signs thanking the fire departments have been placed in many of the front lawns.
The Sumner Viewpoint community has come together during this time. Morell said once while he was out looking at a burned home, a neighbor came out to make sure he wasn’t trying to steal anything.
“They watch out for looky-loos and people who want to take advantage,” he said.
More resources needed
Franz said more state and federal resources need to be allocated to help local emergency teams fight more regular wildfires.
She and Congresswoman Kim Schrier talked about the need to add more helicopters, funding and staffing. While many in Eastern Washington have seen wildfires annually, Western Washington needs to have discussions about evacuation plans and defensible space against wildfires.
“As our climate changes, we have seen more and more of this extreme weather, these extreme fires, and now the whole West seems to be on fire every year,” Schrier said.
‘Fire wise’ development practices
The elected officials also discussed the importance of the wildland–urban interface, a zone that includes all infrastructure threatened by potential wildfires.
Franz said she believes state and local governments need to be more strategic with development policies to avoid magnifying the problem by adding more homes in the interface.
“We are seeing more people able to work from their homes, and more people are wanting to get away from the cities and live in beautiful parts of our state without really truly understanding how significant that risk is,” she said.
Dammeier pointed out that the September fires were largely in uninhabited areas between developments.
Backer said it was luck that the fires hit neighborhoods where there are about 30 feet between each home.
“If we had a fire threaten other neighborhoods in our protection area, like homes where they are close enough to hand a cup of sugar out your kitchen window to your neighbor, we would have lost a lot more homes,” he said.
Backer said he believes future construction needs to consider wildfire risks.
Franz said development in high-risk areas needs to be “fire wise,” like one neighborhood in Spokane. River Bluff Ranch, Washington’s first fire-resistant community, was designed with wildfires in mind. The spacing of homes, types of plants used for landscaping and distance between a home and vegetation were all considerations, Franz said.
“I think we’ve got to do not only in how we design and build our homes, but also in where we design and build our homes,” she said.
She said it’s the government’s role to help homeowners plan for wildfire and use smart land management to curb impacts as much as possible. The state Department of Natural Resources created a 20-year forest plan to thin forests and remove dead trees on more than 1.25 million acres. Dead and dying trees increase wildfire risk.
Franz said they have mapped 2 million acres of dead, dying and diseased trees that need to be removed. She wants the 20-year project to be completed in 10 years.
“We’ve already treated over 220,000 acres from 2017 to the present, but it’s still too slow, too little, too late,” Franz said. “We have got to move much more aggressively.”
