Fire crews continue firing wildfires to keep on high alert in the Northwest.Read More
Wildfire
Multiple fires in Latah and Nez Perce counties in Idaho forced the evacuation of Juliaetta, Myrtle, Cherryland, and Arrow areas Thursday night.Read More
Department of Ecology State of Washington. Read Air Quality WA Site Map With the 2024 wildfire season underway, the Washington Department of Ecology is launching an enhanced air quality monitoring […]Read More
Everyone watching fires around Washington this week held their breath as about 600 lightning strikes hit the landscape across the state.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources, who, alongside agency partners, prepared for those conditions this week by pulling in out-of-state resources and pre-positioning crews. The lightning strikes ignited at least two Read More
Dry, hot and windy conditions have communities on alert for wildfire danger across the Pacific Northwest. Those conditions propelled fire growth over the weekend, and more of the same weather is expected this week. Read More
A view of the Mount Pilchuck fire lookout in Washington. (Credit: Ham Hock / Flickr Creative Commons) Listen (Runtime 1:04) Read It’s bone dry and blisteringly hot across Washington state, […]Read More
This file photo from June 17, 2023, shows Sub Focus performing at the Gorge Amphitheatre. (Credit: Northwest News Network file) Listen (Runtime :53) Read This past holiday weekend turned fiery […]Read More
Temperatures across the Northwest will be soaring to highs of 110 degrees in certain areas, according to the National Weather Service. (Credit: National Weather Service) Listen (Runtime :46) Read High […]Read More
Más de 20 personas se unieron a una demanda contra BNSF Railway en relación con el incendio forestal del Túnel Cinco, o Tunnel Five en inglés. El año pasado, ese incendio quemó más de 500 acres cerca de la frontera con Oregón.Read More
Aircraft flying over the Tunnel Five fire in the Columbia River Gorge. (Credit: InciWeb) Listen (Runtime 1:51) Read More than 20 people joined a lawsuit against BNSF Railway related to […]Read More
Erin Whorton, a hydrologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, measures snow on South Cascade Glacier in Washington. (Credit: Erin Whorton / NRCS) Listen (Runtime :58) Read The snowpack in […]Read More
A sunrise over the Rocky Mountains from Rocky Ridge Campground in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests on August 8, 2020 (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB) Listen (Runtime :59) Read A […]Read More
A helicopter pulled water from the Clearwater River while fighting the flames from the Hospital Fire in Orofino, Idaho August 29, 2023. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 3:16) […]Read More
Large fires surrounding Spokane level homes and send people and livestock fleeing Read More
Cuando una familia de Tri-Cities viajó a Hawai, esperaba que fueran las vacaciones de su vida. En lugar de eso, se encontraron con las mismas condiciones a las que están acostumbrados: fuertes vientos, mucho humo y desastrosos incendios forestales.Read More
La autopista estatal 20 había sido cerrada entre Newhalem y Rainy Pass, en el condado de Whatcom, ya que es el principal punto de acceso para los bomberos que trabajan en el incendio de Sourdough. Read More
NWPB Wildfire Coverage // Cobertura de incendios forestales Current Fire News // Noticias actuales The most recent fire reporting from NWPB journalists // La información más reciente de los periodistas […]Read More
Wildfires are always dangerous – but imagine not understanding the warnings. That’s a real challenge for communities with language barriers, and Washington emergency agencies say there is still a long way to go despite efforts to break those barriers.Read More
A wildfire in Okanogan County, near Oroville, in Northeast Washington is active and covers a large area across the U.S/Canadian border. Evacuation levels were reduced to level 2 in Okanogan County.Read More
In this Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, photo released by the U.S. Forest Service flames from the Nethker Fire engulf trees at Payette National Forest near McCall, Idaho. The Northwest has […]Read More
The Williams Creek Fire burned thousands of acres in the north Idaho wilderness last summer. Fire crews, with the help of heavy rains, eventually put out the blaze. (Credit: Lauren […]Read More
As the days get hotter and warmer, many Washingtonians are gearing up for the wildfires that will ignite across the region this year, causing smoky skies, evacuations and potentially devastating loss. Read More
A tanker airplane drops fire retardant on a wildfire burning near Twisp, Wash. Three firefighters were killed battling the blaze. (Credit: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press) Listen (Runtime 1:07) […]Read More
The Cow Canyon Fire burns near Naches, Washington in August 2022. New funding from the federal government is earmarked to help Northwest communities become more resistant to wildfire. (Credit: Washington […]Read More
This year’s fire season has been the mildest year for Washington in a decade. But, the season isn’t over yet.Read More
Wine grapes are exposed to smoke for 36 hours, with samples taken every six hours to analyze how wildfire smoke might affect the grapes, and the final wine. Professor Tom […]Read More
Imágenes grabadas por los trabajadores agrícolas del condado de Skagit que trabajaron en medio del humo en las últimas semanas. Foto: Comunidad a Comunidad. LEA Las normas de emergencia que […]Read More
Even with smoke, you can breathe easier. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have practical tips to keep the air clean inside homes despite the smoke in Northwest skies.Read More
Paula Swedeen, a forest policy specialist for the Washington Environmental Council, walks through forest land adjacent to Mount Rainier National Park. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Listen Reporter Lauren Paterson tells […]Read More
Hazard Pay Helps Recruit Wildland Rirefighters In IdahoRead More
KUOW special on Malden Washington's recovery after devastating fire. Read More
Biochar produced by C6 Forest to Farm. CREDIT: Tom McCoy. Listen Fire scorching the forests of the Methow Valley in North Central Washington has become a devastating yearly event. “It’s […]Read More
As wildfires have burned throughout the Northwest this summer, some forest stands have fared better than others. Managers say that’s thanks, in part, to thinning and prescribed burns, which have made the stands more resilient in the face of wildfire.Read More
Scientists have discovered they can track fire lines and can quickly draw attention to spot fires using satellites.Read More
“Wildfire is presenting an imminent threat to life, property, and the environment, and we need all hands on deck,” Gov. Brad Little said in a statement. “I appreciate our firefighters and fire managers for working so hard under such challenging conditions, and I am grateful that our guardsmen are able to step in once again to support Idaho communities.”Read More
The Northwest is primed for fire season, and not in a good way. East of the Cascades, forecasters say this year could be worse than recent record-breaking fire seasons. Read More
The National Interagency Fire Center said Tuesday that it’s the second earliest it reached what it calls preparedness level 4 on the 1-5 scale since 1990. It’s also only the fourth time in the last 20 years that it has reached the level 4 in June.Read More
A fire grew across state lines in Northeastern Oregon over the weekend, becoming the region’s largest blaze so far this year.Read More
Smoke forecasting is notoriously hard to do, but a new tool from the state Department of Ecology may help us anticipate hazardous air five days in the future.Read More
Just about every indicator of drought is flashing red across the western U.S. after a dry winter and warm early spring. The snowpack is at less than half of normal in much of the region. Reservoirs are being drawn down, river levels are dropping and soils are drying out.Read More
U.S. officials said Thursday they will try to stamp out wildfires as quickly as possible this year as severe drought tightens its grip across the West and sets the stage for another destructive summer of blazes.Read More
As the company weighs its options, two Washington state legislators sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Congress members in Western states, urging them to find a solution to continue the SuperTanker’s operations, which they described as the “biggest and one of the best weapons in battling the catastrophic fires.”Read More
The damage caused by wildfires can be devastating, gutting structures and driving out people who live and work nearby. And researchers say the smoke from the annually recurring blazes also delivers economic damage to areas that were never touched by the flames.Read More
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved disaster relief requests for nine eastern Washington counties and two Native tribes impacted by summer wildfires. That includes aid for the Whitman County towns of Malden and Pine City, which burned during a Labor Day wildfire that was fanned by high winds.Read More
Washington’s U.S. senators say they’ve asked President Joe Biden to approve a major disaster declaration for eastern Washington towns that were burned by wildfires last fall. Those include the Whitman County town of Malden, which lost about 80% of its homes.Read More
This marks the second year the state Department of Natural Resources has pushed for legislation to expand Washington’s firefighting efforts. This time DNR is seeking $125 million every two years, during a legislative session complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More
In the decades since government restrictions reduced logging on federal lands, the timber industry has promoted the idea that private lands are less prone to wildfires, saying that forests thick with trees fuel bigger, more destructive blazes. But an analysis by OPB and ProPublica shows last month’s fires burned as intensely on private forests with large-scale logging Read More
COVID-related aid and police reform will be two of the major issues before the Washington legislature when it convenes next month. But newly-reelected Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz hopes legislators will also consider dedicating more funding for wildfire and forest health projects.Read More
“In this year of, well, exceptions, we’ve been handed an unprecedented level of damage to our wildlife mitigation program,” a Washington state wildlife biologist recently told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.Read More
After some politicking and tweeting — these are blue states, after all — California and Oregon's major disaster declarations were mostly quickly approved. But it's now been 71 days since Washington Gov. Jay Inslee petitioned the president, and there's been no response, not even a denial.Read More
