Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) put out the call as a flurry of wildfires raged unchecked in the Pacific Northwest, placing a severe strain on state resources. Obama declared a federal emergency due to the situation, allowing the federal government to increase funding for emergency operations.
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Two coordination centers have been established in the state.
“This effort is driven more by the number of people who have showed up with a dozer or a backhoe at fire camps and wanted to help out”, Smillie said.
“DNR only has a limited amount of dozers and excavators and things like that”, Walker said.
However, even if a member of the public has sufficient credentials, deployment to a wildfire will depend on the availability of professional firefighter staff to accompany, direct, and ensure the safety of everyone concerned, DNR officials said, adding the type of credentials that would be considered appropriate for a volunteer include “Red Card” firefighters and “Blue Card” equipment operators.
“This declaration is welcome news for the communities on the front lines battling the wildfires,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement. “That’s wonderful sentiment, but we need our firefighters focused on fighting fires“.
Twenty-eight large, active fires were reported to be burning in Oregon and Washington alone Friday morning, the Chinook Observer reported, none of which were contained.
As of early Friday, the fires had grown by more than 130,000 acres in 24 hours, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
“We’ve been here three weeks, and the minimal rain that we got brought lightning, which then brought havoc in Chelan”.
Of the four injured, one was employed by the Forest Service, two worked for the Department of Natural Resources and one was a contractor with the department.
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The firefighters were involved in combating the fire when a “vehicle incident” occurred and they were overtaken by flames, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said, according to the LA Times. Numerous homes have also been lost, though officials don’t know how many.
