With wildfire danger increasing, an outdoor burn ban has been issued in Washington state

Washington state has ordered a burn ban on all 12 million acres of public and private forest land after four wildfires began in the past week.

The ban will last until Sept. 30 unless conditions improve.

George Geissler is deputy for the state Department of Natural Resource’s wildfire division and state forester.

With weather across the state hot, dry and windy, Geissler said, firefighting resources were stretched thin over the past weekend.

“We are entering a critical period for our firefighters with temperatures rising and rapidly drying fuels on the ground,” Geissler said in a news release. “We’ll continue to respond with our air and ground assets as needed, but we hope the public will take the burn ban seriously.”

Geissler noted that firefighters are not only put at risk because of the fire but that their exposure to smoke and close working conditions put them at risk of exposure to COVID-19.

In the last six days, four wildfires have begun burning, consuming a total of 10,383 of land. The fires are near Wenatchee, Tonasket, Nespelem and Syrnarep.

While one of the fires is at 64% containment, the other three are uncontained at the moment, DNR reported.

The Anglin Fire, near Tonasket, has led to mandatory evacuations of 200 homes.

The causes of the fires are unknown.

Fires such as outdoor burning and charcoal briquettes are banned on all of Washington’s forest lands, according to the news release.

Residents can seek an approval in writing from the Commissioner of Public Lands if they have a reason to make an exception. Recreational fires in approved fire pits in designated campgrounds are automatically exempt from the order.

While the burn ban applies to land managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Communications Director Bobbi Cussins wrote in an email that residents should be not leave a fire unattended in any circumstances, as even a spark in a residential area can lead to a wildfire.

“We simply cannot take any chances right now with wildfire potential so great,” Comissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz said in the news release. “Any spark can set off a megafire.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 12:50 PM with the headline "With wildfire danger increasing, an outdoor burn ban has been issued in Washington state."