As reports come in from Thursday’s lightning across the northwestern United States, we will no doubt hear about quite a few more fires.
From the Washington State Department of Natural Resources:
July 23, 2009
LIGHTNING STRIKES CAUSE 75 FIRES TODAY IN NORTHEASTERN WASHINGTON
New Blazes Push Annual Total Past 500 On DNR-Protected LandsOLYMPIA – Lightning strikes that continued into the evening hours caused more than 75 new fires today in northeastern Washington. Many of the new wildfires were on public and private lands protected by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
DNR has responded to today’s outbreak by deploying 200 firefighters, 30 fire engines and 5 helicopters, plus a 900-gallon air tanker. Several other local and federal agencies also are responding to new fire reports in northeast counties where fire hazard levels on open land are rated “high” to “extreme” due to dry weather and low moisture levels in grasses, trees, and other vegetation.
So far, there have been more than 500 wildfires on the 12.7 million acres of public and private land that DNR protects. That’s 100 more wildfires than at this time last year. As moisture levels fall below 11 percent in some parts of the eastside and 19 counties have fire danger levels rated as extreme or high, DNR urges caution when playing and working outside.
