As Washington officials gear up for a tough wildfire season, Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday visited the site of a destructive fire burning in the Columbia River Gorge.
The 550-acre Tunnel 5 fire is one of the largest wildland blazes burning in the Northwest, said incident commander Bob Shindelar. Ten homes have burned so far.
But officials said during an incident briefing at Wind River Middle School in Carson, Skamania County, that they were making progress after several days of intense fire behavior in rugged terrain.
Inslee, who is in his final term as governor and has focused on climate changes throughout his tenure, told reporters after the briefing: “The smoke behind us comes from climate change.”
“What we’re here for is appreciation,” Inslee said. “We just added $125 million in resources for these local communities that are underfunded with their local tax base.”
In 2021, Inslee signed House Bill 1168, which set up a dedicated $125 million fund for wildfire suppression and mitigation. This year, lawmakers funded $89 million of that sum over the two-year state budget. But the Governor’s Office plans to seek the full amount when lawmakers write a supplemental budget in 2024, according to Jaime Smith, a spokesperson for Inslee.
The governor and Cantwell, D-Wash., asked Shindelar about the fire and the tools used to fight it. Inslee also asked whether officials had enough resources.
“Fortunately, the timing of this fire has been good. We’ve been able to get all the resources that we have ordered, and they have been arriving in a timely manner,” Shindelar said. “You know, as we move later into the fire season as more fires occur, we usually run into resource drawdowns, and sometimes resources can be tight.”
The Tunnel 5 fire, which began Sunday, was about 20% contained as of Friday afternoon, meaning that 20% of the fire perimeter was secure, Shindelar said.
He added that if fire officials got through the day without unanticipated problems, they could increase the containment level to 35%.
“Things are looking very good for us right now,” he said.
About 460 fire personnel were assigned to the fire as of Friday.
“Those folks have done an outstanding job on a tough fire fight,” Shindelar said. “This is very steep, rugged ground.”
The fire’s cause is unknown and under investigation, Shindelar said.
Experts predict a heightened potential for wildfires this season for most of Washington and regions of Idaho, Montana and Oregon, citing hot and dry conditions during the summer and the availability of grassy fuels.
Washington saw some of the fewest acres burned in a decade last year, after the second- and third-worst fire seasons on record in 2020 and 2021.
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