| 2017 Washington wildfires | |
|---|---|
 Wildfires burning September 3, 2017 (satellite image). Visible in the Cascades, north to south: Diamond Creek Fire, Jolly Mountain Fire, Norse Peak Fire | |
| Statistics | |
| Date(s) | May–October 2017 Statewide state of emergency: September 2, 2017 [1] |
| Season | |
← 2016 2018 → | |
The 2017 Washington wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017, a year that set weather records for heat and aridity in both Western Washington and Eastern Washington.
Fire season officially began on April 15. [2] Training of state fire crews was conducted in May, as well as training of Washington National Guard in helitack insertion for fire crews. [3]
On the morning of August 1, smoke from BC fires pushed into the Seattle area, rapidly making Mount Rainier invisible on a cloudless day. [4] In early August, heavy smoke from British Columbia over Seattle earned the social media title "Smokezilla". [5] Mid-month, several large fires in the state's Cascades Range were ignited by lightning. [6]
On August 8, the city of Seattle recorded 52 straight days without rain, a new record. [7] The first measurable rainfall at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) was 0.02 inches in mid-August, setting a record 55 day dry streak. [8]
On September 2, the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, declared a state of emergency across all Washington counties due to wildfires. [1] [9]
On September 5, ash from the Central Washington fires fell "like snow" on Seattle and as far west as Grays Harbor County which borders the Pacific Ocean. [10] [11] [12] University of Washington meteorology professor Cliff Mass said the situation in Seattle with "a smoke cloud so dense one would think it is low stratus deck" was unprecedented in his 30 years of experience. [13] The Air Quality Index reached "hazardous" in Spokane, the worst of six levels; it had reached hazardous the day before in Newport, Washington, the worst in the country. [14]
On September 5, Cle Elum-Roslyn School District announced the start of the school year would be postponed, and on the 6th, all classes and events in Ellensburg School District were canceled until September 11, due to unhealthy indoor air quality. [15] [16]
The first significant rain wasn't until after mid September. [17] By the end of the summer, the official weather station at Sea-Tac, representing Western Washington's conditions, had recorded the hottest, driest summer since recordkeeping began with just over 0.5 inches (13 mm) of rain. [18] Eastern Washington also had a very dry year with Spokane setting a new record of 80 days without measurable rain. [19] A climate scientist at University of Idaho said that the extremes caused greater fire activity and were due to climate change, but not necessarily linked to human causes. [20]
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An infrared thermography-capable RC-26 surveillance aircraft and support crew from Washington Air National Guard were deployed to Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane on August 12 in support of firefighting. [31] [32]
On August 29, the Washington Military Department's Emergency Operation Center at Camp Murray was activated in response to the Jolly Mountain Fire. [33]
On September 5, the U.S. Army said 200 Washington-based soldiers were to be trained and sent to the Umpqua North Complex fires in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest. [34] [35]
Parker Field is a 2,500-seat baseball stadium in the northwest United States, located in Yakima, Washington. Opened 86 years ago in 1937 for the Yakima Pippins of the Western International League, it hosted various professional and amateur teams in the area prior to the opening of Yakima County Stadium in 1993.
State Route 821 (SR 821) is a state highway in central Washington state. It runs for 25 miles (40 km) through the Yakima Canyon, following the meandering Yakima River between Selah and Ellensburg. Both ends of the highway are at interchanges with Interstate 82 (I-82) and U.S. Route 97 (US 97).
The Fred G. Redmon Bridge, also known as the Selah Creek Bridge, is a twin arch bridge in the northwest United States, in Yakima County, Washington. It carries Interstate 82 across Selah Creek near Selah, between Yakima and Ellensburg.
The 2012 Washington wildfires were a series of 1,342 wildfires that burned 259,526 acres (1,050 km2) over the course of 2012. The fires primarily occurred in the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests during September and October 2012. A severe lightning storm on September 8 caused hundreds of fires across the east side of Cascade Range. Smoke caused hazardous air quality conditions in the cities of Ellensburg and Wenatchee, and was noticeable in Seattle. The cost of fighting the largest four fires was estimated to be $67.5 million.
The Yakima Bears were a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, located in Yakima, Washington. The Bears competed at the Class A Short Season level as members of the Northwest League from 1990 to 2012. Following the 2012 season, the franchise relocated to Hillsboro, Oregon, and became Hillsboro Hops.
The 2014 Washington wildfires were a series of 1,480 wildfires that burned 386,972 acres (1,566 km2) over the course of 2014. The first occurred primarily on the east side of the Cascade Range in Chelan and Okanogan counties. The fires burned private land, state land, and within the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests, ultimately covering over 350,000 acres. The first fire began on July 8 near the Entiat River. On July 14 a lightning storm started dozens more fires across the eastern Cascade Range. Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency, activating the Washington National Guard. More lightning strikes later in the summer started additional fires.
The 2015 wildfire season was the largest in Washington state history, with more than one million acres burning across the state from June to September. As many as 3,000 firefighters including 800 Washington National Guard members were deployed to fight the fires. The 17th Field Artillery Brigade of the United States Army also deployed 200 soldiers from Joint Base Lewis–McChord to help fight the fires.
The 2016 Washington wildfires season were a series of wildfires in the U.S. state of Washington, notable because of brush fires near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and because of brush fires near Spokane, Washington.
The Jolly Mountain fire was a wildfire in Wenatchee National Forest, Kittitas County, Washington, that began with lightning strikes August 11, 2017 and burned for over three months. Fires burned in the upper reaches of the Teanaway River a few miles east of Cle Elum Lake.
The 2017 Oregon wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017.
The Diamond Creek Fire was a wildfire in the Pasayten Wilderness, Okanogan County, Washington, that began with an improperly extinguished campfire on July 23, 2017. In July, the fire threatened historic cabins with destruction. On August 31, it spread to Canada in an area between Cathedral Provincial Park and Manning Provincial Park. On September 6, it grew beyond 100,000 acres to become a megafire. The fire was contained on October 23, 2017.
The 2018 Washington wildfire season officially began June 1, 2018. A statewide state of emergency was declared by Governor Jay Inslee on July 31.
Hilary S. Franz is an American politician and conservation attorney serving as the 16th Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands since 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party who was previously a member of the Bainbridge Island city council and was elected as commissioner in 2016.
The 2019 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2019.
The 2020 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2020. The season was a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfires. By September, wildfires had burned over 713,000 acres, 181 homes had been lost, and one death occurred as a result. The 2020 fire season saw more individual fires than in any other recorded year.
The 2020 Washington Labor Day fires were part of the 2020 wildfires in the U.S. state of Washington. The Labor Day fires began on September 7, 2020, driven by high winds and some of which were sparked by downed power lines. More than 330,000 acres (130,000 ha) burned across the state of Washington, a one-day total greater than any of the last 12 entire fire seasons, according to the governor's office, and larger than the state's largest single fire, the Carlton Complex Fire of 2014.
The Western United States experienced a series of major wildfires in 2020. Severe August thunderstorms ignited numerous wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington, followed in early September by additional ignitions across the West Coast. Fanned by strong, gusty winds and fueled by hot, dry terrains, many of the fires exploded and coalesced into record-breaking megafires, burning more than 10.2 million acres of land, mobilizing tens of thousands of firefighters, razing over ten thousand buildings, and killing at least 37 people. The fires caused over $19.884 billion in damages, including $16.5 billion in property damage and $3.384 billion in fire suppression costs. Climate change and poor forest management practices contributed to the severity of the wildfires.
The 2021 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2021. By late April, all of Eastern Washington had been classified by the United States Drought Monitor as "abnormally dry" with moderate to severe drought conditions. The state had more than 630 wildfires by the first week of July, on par with the state's record 2015 wildfire season.
The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. Extreme event attribution found this was a 1000-year weather event, made 150 times more likely by climate change. A study in Nature Climate Change estimated that its occurrence, while previously thought virtually impossible, has become an event that may occur every 200 years under current climate warming. The heat wave affected Northern California, Idaho, Western Nevada, Oregon, and Washington in the United States, as well as British Columbia, and in its latter phase, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and Yukon, all in Canada. It also affected inland regions of Central and Southern California, Northwestern and Southern Nevada and parts of Montana, though the temperature anomalies were not as extreme as in the regions farther north.
The 2022 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2022. As of August 4, 2022, there have been four large wildfires that have burned 30,800 acres (12,500 ha) across the US state of Washington. This season started quieter than normal due to unusually colder weather that kept Eastern and Southeastern Washington burning index's largely below normal into July. As of October 2022, a total of 140,000 acres (57,000 ha) of land in the state was burned – the fewest number of acres burned since 2012.
| Lists by year | |
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| Other major fires |
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| 2014 | |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | |
| 2017 | |
| 2018 | |
| 2020 |
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| 2021 | |
| 2023 | |
