OLYMPIA, Wash. - They call themselves the state's largest on-call fire department.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) does lots of things, but fighting fires on well over 12 million acres of state and privately owned land is a major one.
Remember last summer? Temperatures, even in Western Washington, climbed into the 100s. That's freakish for the land west of the mountains.
That fact, combined with dry and hot weather east of the Cascades, greatly worried Joe Shramek, the Division Manager for DNR's Resource Protection Division. Shramek and other firefighters in the state feared the worst - that 2009 would stand out as a major year for massive fires.
It didn't happen that way. According to DNR, 45 percent fewer acres on its watch actually burned than any average year in the last decade.
Why? Despite the hot and dry conditions, did the fires simply not start?
Nope. There were plenty of fires -15 percent more than the running ten year average. The number of fires rose to 1,035.
The key, says Shramek is getting on them early. DNR says more than 96 percent of fires were put out before they reached 10 acres. The goal is 93 percent.
Inside a hangar at the Olympia airport sits a group of firefighting helicopters undergoing heavy maintenance. During the winter, with last year's fire season but a memory, mechanics get ready for next summer. DNR says doing this work now helps make sure at least six state owned firefighting helicopters, including former U.S. Army Huey's and Cobras, are ready to go at a moment's notice. The fleet is also bigger, now totaling nine along with a Huey jointly operated with Chelan county.
But it's not just the increased availability of helicopters. DNR is working closer with local fire districts to get to fires earlier. More firefighting equipment is pre-staged on the more fire prone eastern part of the state.
The strategy not only saves lives and property, it saves money, says Shramek.
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