‘People need to be very cautious,’ Whatcom fire chief warns as temperatures rise
Though Whatcom County certainly didn’t see the large, out-of-control wildfires that other areas around the state experienced over the Labor Day holiday weekend, fire crews in the area certainly kept busy with reports of a number of vegetation fires.
Even though the rest of us have headed back to work, the dry, warm weather continues to make conditions dangerous.
“The combination of what made yesterday so dangerous and continues the next couple of days is the change to the high temperatures we’ve seen and very low humidity,” South Whatcom Fire Authority Chief Rod Topel told The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday, Sept. 8. “Then you add in a wind event, like we had yesterday, with that dry heat, and it dries the fuel out and makes it much easier to ignite.”
South Whatcom crews know the dangers as well as anyone, as they got called to reports of four outside fires on Monday. Fires were not located on two of the calls, Topel said, but the two others that did require their attention combined to burn more than 15,000 square feet.
The first fire was called in at approximately 10:40 a.m. in the 1900 block of Yew Street, Topel said. Early reports were that the fire was burning out of control and threatening nearby structures.
Crews arrived to find the brush fire, which was believed to have re-ignited from an earlier fire, encroaching onto wildland, but no nearby structures, Topel said.
The fire burned approximately 10,000 square feet before South Whatcom and Bellingham firefighters put it out with water, and Topel said Washington State Department of Natural Resource crews remained on seen to watch and work on the area with small hand tools.
Approximately nine hours later at 7:40 p.m., South Whatcom was called out to Sudden Valley for a fire on Morning Beach, Topel said. Crews arrived to find another grass and small vegetation fire that was growing in size due to Monday evening’s winds.
South Whatcom firefighters, with the aid of crews from Whatcom County District 18, attacked the fire with water and managed to hold it to between 5,000 to 6,000 square feet, Topel said, and DNR crews remained on scene once again. Topel said it is likely there was a human component in that fire’s cause.
Earlier Monday, the Bellingham Fire Department was called to a large brush pile fire north of town, according to a Facebook post.
“Smoke was heavy this morning, but the fire is now extinguished,” the post read. “No reports of injury.”
Overworked fire crews won’t catch a break from the weather, which is predicted to remain warm and dry. The National Weather Service, which has already issued a Red Flag Warning (critical fire weather conditions) for eastern portions of Whatcom County, is predicting temperatures in the mid 70s to lower 80s and no precipitation for the rest of the workweek for Bellingham.
Whatcom County has been under Burn Ban restrictions by order of the Whatcom County Fire Marshal since July 27, and violations can result in a minimum $250 file, a bill for fire suppression costs if a fire gets out of control and criminal charges.
“The next couple of days, people need to be very cautious, as the moisture levels in the fuels are very low,” Topel said. “The fuel is susceptible to fires that could quickly grow out of control. I would not have any outdoor campfires in any unapproved sites, as the Whatcom County Fire Marshal recommends. And people need to be aware of anything that could produce an ember, such as cigarettes.”
