FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2009
Fire danger rating increases to ‘moderate’ in parts of northeast region
OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced today that fire danger ratings will increase from low to moderate in Lincoln County, Spokane County, and fire districts 1 and 2 in Stevens County effective midnight, May 29.
Effective midnight, Sunday, May 31, the fire danger rating for Okanogan County will change from low to moderate. In Okanogan County, near the community of Riverside, a fire burned over 50 acres this week. The fire was pushed by moderate winds and quickly spread up the hill before it was stopped. “With the recent and predicted warm weather, we have seen an increase in fire starts and the size of fires, said Cody Rohrbach, Arcadia District Fire Control Forester. “This is causing us to increase the fire danger rating to moderate.”
DNR urges caution in debris burning. Make sure there is a fire break around all debris pile burning and extinguish debris fires with water and a shovel. The leading causes for debris fires becoming a wildfire are failure to construct a fire break and failure to extinguish the burn pile.
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.’ The ‘burn risk map’ link is in the bottom right-hand corner.
DNR’s wildfire mission
Administered by Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark, DNR is responsible for preventing and fighting wildfires on 12.7 million acres of tribal, private, and state-owned forestlands. DNR is the state’s largest on-call fire department, with hundreds of people trained and available to be dispatched to fires as needed. During fire season, this includes several hundred DNR employees who have other permanent jobs with the agency, about 375 seasonal workers, and about 600 Department of Correction inmates who participate in the Washington Work Camps Program. DNR also participates in Washington’s coordinated interagency approach to firefighting.
Media Contact: Guy Gifford, DNR NE Region, 509-990-6218, guy.gifford@dnr.wa.gov
# # #