Bill To Get Head Start On Wildfires
A House committee in Olympia has unanimously approved a bill that would help local fire agencies get a head start with aerial support when a wild land fire breaks out.
State Representative Mary Dye reminded lawmakers of the 2015 fire season that burned across 16-hundred square miles of Washington, destroying nearly 300 homes, businesses and outbuildings.
The Pomeroy Republican says quick response and the right resources could help prevent such catastrophic damage. She’s sponsored a bill that would create a pre-mobilization program to help local agencies pay for aerial support during the initial attack of a fire. “The idea of having a few buckets of water or retardant from a helicopter in the initial attack of a small wild land fire while the pumpers and the brush trucks arrive intuitively suggests that fewer fires will grow to need a state mobilization.”