WASHINGTON, USA — Around 100 firefighters, safety officers and other personnel are working with the Washington Department of Natural Resources' Statewide Support team to augment WADNR crews and brace for expected wildfire weather conditions. They represent agencies from 11 different states, helping during a time of year when Washington is seeing its highest risks and some other regions are in less busy periods.
Mark Munns is one of those firefighters, having traveled to and from the Pacific Northwest multiple times to assist during peak fire seasons.
"The fires here are typically in the summertime while ours are typically fall, winter and early spring," Munns said. "[Partnerships enable] us to do what we need to do during our higher workloads, work at home, and during the summer when our workloads are reduced, we're able to help other states further west."
WADNR Fire Operations Specialist and statewide Support Team Incident Commander Matt Caldwell says the additional resources make a big difference.
"There's a limited number of resources across the nation that are qualified to do what we do and having these partnerships and building on these and allowing other experiences in different geographic areas builds to the entirety of the pool of all the resources that fight wildland fire across the nation," Caldwell said.
Caldwell and Munns both emphasized the importance of citizens playing a role by adhering to local and state burn bans, being responsible with fireworks and not dragging chains or trailer brakes on major interstates.
"We are in critical fire weather, so any opportunity to prevent wildfires is imperative right now," Munns said. "Heat sources, sources of any sparks and so forth, recognize that could turn into a catastrophic wildfire, so just think before you do."
Caldwell also noted gratitude for the firefighters from other states and asked everyone to give them the space they need to conduct firefighting operations.