DNR Commissioner Hilary Franz Unveils Wildfire and Forest Health Package
Information provided by Department of Natural Resources.
At 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 10th, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz will unveil the Department of Natural Resources’ $55 million wildfire and forest health package submitted to the legislature in advance of the 2019-21 budget.
Joining Commissioner Franz will be:
- Chairman Rodney Cawston, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nation
- Fire Chief Jack Cates, Spokane County Fire District #9
- Tommy Matsuda, Seasonal DNR Firefighter
- State Representative Larry Springer (D), 45th Legislative District
- State Representative Tom Dent (R), 13th Legislative District
To address the state’s wildfire and forest health crisis, DNR is seeking $38 million in increased operating funds and $17 million in capital funds – the largest such request in DNR’s history. The presentation will be live streamed via Commissioner Franz’s Facebook page @CommissionerHilaryFranz.
Photo above from Inciweb, shows a recent landscape of the Crescent Mountain Fire. It is currently at 86% containment, and burned over 52,600 acres. It will continue to smolder in the inaccessible high country until snow fall.
About the DNR Firefighting program:
We are Washington state’s largest on-call fire department. Our 1,500 permanent and temporary employees fight fires on more than 13 million acres of private and state-owned forest lands. Our fire protection and safety equipment requirements help your local fire district respond to wildfires. We also work with the National Weather Service to provide the fire weather forecasts and fire precaution levels for you, the firefighters, forest landowners, and the forest industry. We use hand crews, engines, dozers, water tenders, helicopters and planes to help put out wildfires.
