It was a long and hot fire season in Washington state says Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. She was joined by officials from the Department of Natural Resources Thursday to review the 2023 wildfire season, highlight some of the year’s successes, detail upcoming improvements and "celebrate interagency partnerships."
"Statewide, we saw the second-most ignitions in Washington’s history this year, including the tragedies that were the Gray and Oregon fires,” Commissioner Franz says they were able to keep 95 percent of DNR protection fires under 10 acres. She says that's well below the 10-year average for acres burned which she says is a result of the hard work, investments in resources like more aircraft, more firefighters and improved training.
Franz says firefighters responded to 1,880 fires in the state in the 2023 fire season.