No. 08-146
July 31, 2008
Contact: Guy Gifford, DNR Northeast Region, 509-990-6218
Increased Fire Danger in Northeast Washington
More burning restrictions include campfire ban in Okanogan County
OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced today increased fire danger ratings and additional burning restrictions in several northeast Washington counties.
Effective at 12:01 a.m., August 1, the fire danger rating for all of Okanogan County will increase to ‘very high.’ This means that all outdoor burning, including campfires, is prohibited on DNR- protected lands in Okanogan County.
Fire danger ratings for Spokane, Lincoln, Stevens (Fire Districts 1 and 2), and Pend Oreille counties will remain at the ‘high’ level, which prohibits all burning on DNR- protected lands, except for campfires in approved campgrounds.
DNR, in cooperation with local fire departments and districts throughout the region, also placed more restrictions on the type of silvicultural burning allowed on DNR-protected lands in northeast Washington. Silvicultural burning is usually associated with timber operations or other forest practices on unimproved or forested land.
An additional restriction will apply to those who work in the woods. The new restriction moves the Industrial Fire Precaution Level for zone 678W to ‘Level II: Partial Hootowl.’ That designation limits most forest industrial activities in the affected zone to between 8:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. the following day; the danger of a tool, machine or vehicle sparking a fire tends to be lower during those hours.
Get updates online
Daily updates on burn restrictions are available at 1-800-323-BURN or on DNR’s website at www.dnr.wa.gov , then click on ‘Fire Information and Prevention’ and go to ‘Wildfire Related Maps.’ A link to the ‘Burn Risk Map’ is in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
To find out about burn restrictions on U.S. Forest Service lands, call 509-664-9200.
DNR’s wildfire mission
DNR is responsible for preventing and fighting wildfires on 12.7 million acres of private and state-owned forestland. DNR is the state’s largest on-call fire department, with hundreds of people trained and available to be dispatched to fires when needed. During fire season, this includes several hundred DNR employees who have other permanent jobs with the agency, about 375 seasonal workers, and about 500 Department of Corrections’ inmates who also participate in suppressing wildfires. DNR also participates in Washington’s interagency approach to wildland firefighting and relies on private sector contractors for certain firefighting resources.
Doug Sutherland is the 12th Commissioner of Public Lands since statehood in 1889.
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