We here in Western Washington have followed the events in Eastern Washington and have had to deal with smoke drifting across the mountains and significantly impacting the air quality in Seattle and areas beyond. We see the areas burned and the homes and lives impacted by these fires and have sympathy for the people who, in some cases, have lost everything.

What most people don't realize is that the wildland fire risk is not confined to Eastern
Washington. Ask any professional firefighter and they will tell you that this year we are
sitting on a ticking time bomb that will only be defused when our normally wet weather
returns sometime in October. Until then, we have an extremely high risk of a wildland
fire extending into urban areas in all of Western Washington. 

 
Much of our highest population density areas exist in an "urban forest" environment.
This is not just the foothills of the Cascades, but extends into the city limits of major
cities. We have entire communities nestled in wooded areas with green belts running
throughout and parklike forested greenspaces. 

Typically, none of the fire wise practices in Eastern Washington to reduce the impact of a wildland fire spreading have been applied by homeowners here on the West Side.
While we enjoy the remaining days of summer, the sunshine and rainless days, it is
important to understand the fire danger that remains. Add to this, many of the fire
resources that can be spared to help in Eastern Washington have been deployed and
are not available to fight a major fire on the West Side.

Short term, here are a few measures you can take to protect your own home. 

• Clear any debris from your roof that are now tinder dry. This includes cleaning out your gutters of any dry leaves and needles.  
• Cut away any tree limbs that directly overhang your roof.
• Limb up your trees so that a fire spreading on the ground cannot leap to the tree canopy and then spread from tree to tree. 
• Move any woodpiles a good distance away from your home. Don't provide a supply of flammable materials by having the woodpile stacked right next to your house.
• Keep vegetation cleared away from your home, especially those types of bushes and trees that have a high sap content and can flame up like a torch when on fire. 

There are many other steps you can take and good website for advice on protecting your home is www.firewise.org.

 

Lastly, one of the best opportunities long-term to protect your home is choosing the
most fire resistant roofing materials possible. Some home owner associations still have
covenants that require wood shake roofs as one of the roofing options.

I know, because where I live there is a requirement in place for either tile or wood shake roofs. I had to replace my shake roof with another shake roof because I could not convince my neighbors to adjust their value system to include protecting their homes from wildland fires.

Remember that a firestorm will eventually happen on the West Side. It will be a
predictable surprise to many and a danger to all.

The responder system lives on the Cloud. From here, emergency agencies across the region can access incoming reports from the public. FirstToSee then categorizes the reports which can be filtered by incident type, date/time, location, status, or source. It also monitors social and news media looking for related words and hashtags. Together, this information is compiled and appears on a map, giving emergency professionals a more complete picture of what's happening where.