Fifteen large wildfires are burning across Washington state as wildfire season continues into early September. This week, we learned many of these fires could have been prevented.
The Washington Department of Nature Resources tweeted that of 1,211 wildfires this year in the state, 401 wildfires caused by humans. And hundreds of additional fires are still under investigation.
The problem is even bigger across the Pacific Northwest. The United States Forest Service Pacific Northwest division said last month that of the 2,857 wildfires crews were battling in California, Oregon and Washington 71 percent were human-caused.
They also added that so far, $435 million dollars had been spent battling wildfires this fire season.