Fire Risk Danger Reduced For Chelan County

Fire danger is on a downward trend in Chelan County, with the County Fire Marshal’s Office lowering the fire risk rating late last week. 

Fire Marshal Stephen Rinaldi offered a resolution to County Commissioners Monday morning to officially drop the level from Very High. 

"Essentially what we were looking at with this resolution is to lower the fire danger rating down to high level," said Rinaldi. 

He said travel restrictions would stay at level 2 in order to stay consistent with state and federal partners for the coming week. 

Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution. 

The fire hazard designation was raised in late July from "high" to "very high" in both the Chelan County Valley and Mountain Zones, which includes all unincorporated lands within the county. 

The county is continuing to use the four-tier scale to rate wildfire risk it already had in place, but moved to a three-tier scale for travel restriction. 

The three-tier scale helps the county more closely align its risk assessments with its state and federal partners (U.S. Forest Service, Washington Department of Natural Resources) and to give the commissioners a new option when conditions become extremely hazardous. 

Under the current Level 2 travel restrictions, extra signage is in place at the intersection of county roads. 

Chelan County Code calls for all designations, both fire hazard and travel restrictions to be rescinded on October 1 of every year. 

The Fire Marshall's office is holding a meeting Tuesday morning to discuss extending both designations beyond the cutoff date because of continued extreme dry conditions.