I had a chance to sit down with Greg Sinnett, Chief Meterologist for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. He's a specialist in Fire Weather under the state's resource protection division. DNR is primarily responsible for fighting fires on state and private land.
Sinnett is worried. Other wild land firefighters are worried. In many ways the business of preparing to fight fires has a lot to do with numbers. And those numbers are not good. It's dry and getting drier, on both west and east of the Cascade Mountains. (See accompanying story.)
In going over those numbers, Sinnett points out that the last really huge fire year in Washington was six years ago... 2003. That was the year of the Tripod Complex between the towns of Winthrop and Conconully in Okanogan County.
Unlike Kelowna, those towns were lucky. The fire drove east away from Winthrop, and firefighters were successful in keeping it out of Conconully. But between those points, the complex of fires scorched the earth to the point where a major land restoration effort was required.
Will we be as lucky this season when it comes to keeping fire out of town. Kelowna is a reminder. It's a reminder to be careful to prevent a fire. It's a reminder to homeowners again to maintain defensible space outside of their homes so it might still be standing after the evacuation is over.
Please check out KING5.com and our Wildfire section for some valuable tips.