Inslee: 626,982 acres of Washington burned, air quality won’t improve before Monday
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the last five days have made this the second-worst fire season in state history.
“This is a cataclysmic event in the state of Washington,” Inslee said at a virtual press conference Friday. “We have so many families that have had such profound losses.”
More than 626,900 acres have burned from 14 large, active fires.
About 1,000 people have been affected by evacuations, and about 300 homes and buildings are being threatened.
“Right now, we have a state that is just a tinderbox,” Inslee said.
Low humidity, high temperatures and winds have made for dangerous conditions “that are becoming much more frequent in our state,” the governor said. “... we know that is because our environment is changing, our climate is changing.”
He called the blazes “climate fires” and said, “We need to act. We need to put people to work building clean energy jobs to fight climate change.”
Inslee toured the Sumner Grade Fire on Wednesday. Four homes near Bonney Lake were destroyed.
He toured the town of Malden on Thursday, about 35 miles south of Spokane. More than 80 percent of structures in Malden burned, the governor said.
Inslee also spoke Friday about the fires devastating Oregon. Tens of thousands have been affected by evacuations there.
“We are now looking for options for them here in Washington,” Inslee said. “... We want to be good neighbors.”
That includes an effort through the Red Cross to provide a way for those people to find hotel rooms and other housing options in Washington, the governor said.
Inslee asked people to stay off the roads when possible, particularly in southern Washington in the coming days, as people affected by the Oregon evacuations arrive.
There haven’t been enough truck drivers to deliver fire retardant, Inslee noted. He’s waived some requirements to help with that, suspending limitations on their hours.
The governor also talked about smoke that is affecting air quality across the state, and said things aren’t expected to improve until Monday at the earliest.
“I hope people will consider staying home this weekend unless you really have to go out,” the governor said.
Department of Ecology director Laura Watson joined Inslee on the call.
She talked about the large plume of smoke from California and Oregon fires that is moving over Washington. The Puget Sound area woke up to unhealthy air quality levels Friday, and that plume would probably reach Spokane by Saturday afternoon, she said.
“Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that you can’t breath it,” Watson warned. “... What we’re worried about is those small particles.”
Information about air quality levels is available at wasmoke.blogspot.com.
State Patrol Chief John Batiste and Maj. Gen. Bret Daugherty of the Washington National Guard also were on the call.
Batiste asked drivers to slow down and use their headlights in hazy conditions, and he cautioned them to use ashtrays and not to throw anything lit out their windows.
He also asked that everyone pay attention to media updates about the fires and any evacuations orders.
Responding to rumors, Batiste said the State Patrol is “unaware of any coordinated activities to start fires.”
The chief said the State Patrol has no evidence that two people arrested on suspicion of intentionally setting brush fires in Pierce County were “connected in their efforts” or “tied to any larger scheme.”
Daugherty talked about the soldiers and airmen mobilized to fight the fires.
Three firefighting hand crews were headed to Davenport to fight the Whitney fire and will go wherever the state Department of Natural Resources needs them next. Two Black Hawk helicopters have been dropping water on fires near Sumner and Greenwater this past week. A Lakota helicopter has been helping DNR find hotspots and map blazes.
The National Guards of Washington and Oregon are in communication, Daugherty said.
He told his counterpart in Oregon that Washington “is standing ready to assist them in any way that we can, especially if they need to evacuate here into Washington.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 2:54 PM.
