October has arrived, but Washington’s wildfire season is far from over. Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove toured the area near the Labor Mountain fire on Wednesday, one of the major wildfires still burning in the state. “Right now, in Washington State, 237,000 acres have burned this fire season,” Upthegrove said. “We have 11 major fires burning right now, in the state of Washington.” The Bear Gulch Fire is among this year’s fires. It is on the Olympic Peninsula.
“[It is] the largest fire we’ve seen in Western Washington in decades, a reminder that this is an all of Washington issue,” Upthegrove said. He warned that lingering smoke is putting people’s health at risk — especially seniors, children, and those with respiratory conditions. Recently, the region recorded the worst air quality in the United States because of wildfire smoke.“Every part of the state of Washington has been impacted by wildfire smoke this year,” Upthegrove said. “If the legislature doesn’t restore our wildfire prevention and response funding, we will see more fires, bigger fires, and higher costs to taxpayers with more smoke impacting people’s health.”
Wildfires have forced the closure of Blewett Pass on U.S. Highway 97 since last month due to the Labor Mountain and Lower Sugarloaf fires. As of late Thursday morning, the Lower Sugarloaf fire had burned 39,594 acres and was 48% contained. Tim Sampson, a deputy incident commander for the Lower Sugarloaf fire, said winds are in the forecast. “We want to make sure we keep the foot on the gas pedal and make sure that we do our due diligence, continue working the lines, continue working the resources on the ground, so if we get the winds coming this weekend, we are prepared for that,” Sampson said.
