The Bothell Fire Department will soon be authorized to issue wildland fire training certifications, known as red cards, to city firefighters after the City Council voted on Tuesday, April 5 to proceed with an interlocal agreement.
Approval by the council allows the city to become a member of the South Puget Sound Fire Coordination Group (Coordination Group), a subset of the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) which oversees training, certification and de-certification of wildland firefighters.
Approximately 15 Bothell firefighters have assisted in fighting devastating wildfires each year since 2013, which have scorched some 1.54 million acres, an area roughly the size of the state of Deleware, one million of which burned last year alone.
Each spring wildland firefighters must either renew or complete their red-card certification. While training is already conducted by individual fire agencies, such as the Bothell Fire Department, they would send out completed training and certification packets to the DNR for them to look over and approve. These packets are generally at least 40 pages long, and full of procedures and skills the firefighters have learned.