Washington Has Seen A Significant Rise In Wildfire Starts So Far This Year

By Courtney Flatt
A helicopter uses a bucket to drop water on the Milepost 22 wildfire, Thursday, June 21, 2018, near Vantage, Wash. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/TED S. WARREN
Washington fire managers say they’ve seen a significant number of wildfires in “every corner of the state.” So far this year, the state Department of Natural Resources says it has responded to more than 468 wildfires of varying sizes – nearly double the 10-year average for an entire fire season. But this year’s unprecedented uptick in the number of fires has an unforeseen Read More

Hey, That’s My Grass! Goats Chomp Fire Fuels Around Previously Burned Wenatchee Neighborhood

By Courtney Flatt
These goats from a herding operation based in Ephrata were in Wenatchee in July to clean out fire fuels near Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow fire. CREDIT: COURTNEY FLATT/NWPB
A fire district around Wenatchee has come up with a new way to make wildland fires less severe. Chelan County Fire District 1 is ditching the hand tools and machinery that firefighters traditionally use to thin overgrown brush. Instead, they’re turning to a more natural approach to thin out fuels around the Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow Read More

Snow Melts, Anxiety Rises: Wildfire Season Is Here

By Ashley Ahearn
Elise Walker poses for a portrait with her Great Pyrenees, Mina, on Monday, April 22, 2019, at her home on Old Highway 97 in Okanogan. Walker has three scanners in her home playing at all times to monitor fire calls. CREDIT:KUOW PHOTO/MEGAN FARMER
As wildfires become more frequent and intense, the disappearance of snow now ushers in a season of higher anxiety for those who have experienced the destruction of wildfire. And this spring feels particularly ominous, with water levels in ponds and lakes already exposing bathtub rings of pale earth that wouldn’t normally be visible until the end of the dry summer months. Read More

Washington Senate Democrats Propose New Taxes On Capital Gains, Support For Wildfire Funding

By Austin Jenkins
Washington State Sen. Manka Dhingra speaks to reporters during a briefing on the Senate Democratic budget on Friday. AUSTIN JENKINS / N3
Washington Senate Democrats on Friday proposed a capital gains tax that would fund a suite of tax reductions for low-income families, small businesses and senior citizen homeowners. The tax proposal was rolled out in conjunction with the Senate Democrats' unveiling of a $52 billion two-year state spending plan, which followed a House Democratic budget presentation earlier Read More

California Fire Evacuees To Spend Thanksgiving Without Homes, As Restaurants Step In To Help

By NPR News
A holiday mug is seen among the wreckage of what was once someone's kitchen in Paradise, Calif. CREDIT: Elise Hu/NPR
Both those homes burned to the ground in the historic Camp Fire. The scale of the fire's destruction is so spread out that very little of the towns of Paradise, Magalia and Concow remain. So far, the fire scorched 230 square miles — an area the size of Chicago. So many evacuees have fled to nearby Chico, prompting local businesses to try and give them a place to exhale. Read More
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