Wildfires: Western Washington is at risk, too

The fire, burning through acres of brush just feet from the road and less than five miles from his home, was a wake-up call for Jeff Madden.

Madden and his neighbors near Carnation were unaccustomed to the prospect of evacuation because of wildfires. After all, it's East King County, not Eastern Washington.

Luckily that blaze, back in 2003, was corralled, thanks in part to cooperative weather. But it "made people more than a little nervous," Madden said.

"We were all worried that, had the wind shifted, it would have burned everything."

After that scare, Madden and several neighbors decided to prepare for the worst. They got together to carve buffers around their properties and make sure their roofs were fire-safe.

Madden is an exception in Western Washington, fire officials say, and that troubles them.

While it's true that Eastern Washington has more wildfires, officials are increasingly worried that the west side of the Cascades is woefully unprepared for the eventuality — not the possibility — of a major fire.

King, Snohomish and Pierce counties actually have a lot of fires. And as development reaches into more and more rural areas, smaller fires are becoming more dangerous.

But most homeowners in the most-risky areas have been complacent when it comes to guarding their homes against wildfires, and organized efforts to educate them have not seemed to work. Now, in more rural parts of eastern King County, some homeowners have decided to take up the challenge of spreading the word.

Yes, it could happen here

Despite its drippy, mossy reputation, Western Washington is far from immune to wildfire.

According to the state fire marshal, the three-county region of King, Snohomish and Pierce counties had 2,001 brush fires in 2007, compared to 2,566 in all of Eastern Washington.

Granted, most of the Western Washington fires stayed small, with damage minimal, in part because a dense population means fires often are caught early before they can get out of control.

But communities such as Carnation, Fall City, Preston, Snoqualmie and North Bend are at particular risk because of their exposure to strong east winds that can blow down the Cascades in the summer, said Capt. Steve Westlake, of Eastside Fire and Rescue, which covers those communities.

Think of those east winds as Washington's version of California's Santa Ana winds, which routinely whip up major wildfires. If the winds came during a particularly dry spell in late summer, Western Washington could have a major fire. Add to that lots of narrow, rural roads that stymie large fire trucks, and it could be a recipe for real trouble.

"As we continue to move to homes that are 5-, 10- and 20-acre parcels, highways are not the best, there's a total lack of fire hydrants," said Doug Sutherland, the state commissioner of public lands.

"It makes it really, really dangerous."

Most homeowners moving into forested areas have little or no knowledge about managing their property, fire officials lament. Many housing developments are on land once used in commercial forestry. And if the cluttered, second-growth forests around them aren't thinned, trees can become stressed and unhealthy, making them prime fuel for fire.

"We find, almost across the board, that what they think they bought is paradise or virgin timber," said Kristi McClelland, King County forester. "They don't see it as an overstocked tree plantation."

Defensible space

Firewise is a national program designed to expand homeowner involvement in fire prevention by teaching "defensible space" techniques. Generally, that means clearing large areas around homes, installing fire-resistant roofs and ensuring that roads, lanes and driveways are clear and suitable for fire trucks.

It's relatively old hat in Eastern Washington: During recent fires near Spokane, homes that had defensible space survived, while the ones that didn't burned, fire officials such as Westlake point out.

But other than putting up booths at community events or sending leaflets in the mail, Eastside Fire and Rescue has little time or money to do Firewise outreach.

The few Firewise sessions the department has held were sparsely attended. They held two meetings in North Bend in the last couple of years, and only three or four people showed up, Westlake said.

At Ames Lake near Carnation, Kelly Kyle understands the frustration.

She also owns a home in Okanogan County, and one day a neighbor there offered her some Firewise pointers.

When she came back to Ames Lake after a Firewise training session earlier this year, Kyle invited people to an informational meeting for her neighborhood. Only one neighbor came.

"There are a handful of people that are very concerned about it and working on their property, but it's very slow," Kyle said.

"They haven't had to deal with a fire."

"Everybody's at risk"

The one neighbor who attended Kyle's meeting was Jaki Beshur, who hadn't heard of Firewise until last year but since has been working on protecting her 6-acre Ames Lake property against wildfires.

She says her property is in pretty good shape now: The trees have been limbed up more than 10 feet above the ground, and excess brush has been cleared out.

She still has a wood-shake roof, though, something she is saving up money to replace. Until then, she said, she sprays it with a garden hose during lightning storms. A shed in her back yard has been hit by lightning twice.

Her lot also slopes up toward other properties, and she worries that if a fire started on her land it could run up to other homes.

She worries that her neighbors might not be ready.

"Everybody's at risk, and that's why neighbors should help neighbors," she said.

Sean Rose: 206-464-2292 or srose@seattletimes.com