With heat and drought rapidly increasing fire danger in Western Washington, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources June 22 expanded its burn ban to west of the Cascades.
The statewide burn ban will run through Sept. 30.
The ban applies to state forests, parks and forestlands under DNR fire protection.
The burn ban applies to all outdoor burning on DNR-protected forestlands with the exception of recreational fires in approved fire pits within designated state, county, municipal and other campgrounds.
This year there have been 306 wildfire starts statewide. Last year’s fire season was the biggest on record in Washington.
DNR is awaiting legislative action on requests for $4.5 million for additional firefighting teams and equipment, and $20 million to improve the health of drought-ravaged, flammable forests.
Fireworks and incendiary devices, such as exploding targets, sky lanterns, or tracer ammunition, are illegal on all DNR-protected forestlands.
