Seattle Forrest

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/dnr-closure-eastern-2021

CliffordK

Do Not Resuscitate?

aRoudy1

Sadly, that won't deter those exercising their constitutional right to pursuit of happiness around a roaring campfire!

Seattle Forrest

Department of Natural Resources.

Seattle Forrest

I saw people with camp fires this weekend. I almost went Texas Chainsaw Massacre on them.

woodway

IFPL 2/3 - only before 1:00pm you need to have water and a shovel on hand and a fire watch. Otherwise, have at them!

CliffordK

I do believe it is possible to have a safe summer campfire. But, unfortunately too many people don't follow common sense.

One of my last camp fires was a few years ago on this trip.



I don't think I ever got a photo of the fire. However, my fire was inches from the river, and perhaps a total footprint of about a square foot.

I may have also made a fire another mile or two upriver, also in a very open, rocky area.

Cooking camp fires is a part of my childhood that I might miss. But, I think from now on it will be camp stoves or cold food.

downtube42

I'd like to think we'll be lucky, but I'm afraid it's going to be a very bad summer here in the PNW. I've never been one to have a bug-out bag or plan, but I'm working on one. It's a tinder box here, and people are insane.

Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​At this point, if you want to have a fire and not have Forrest go Chainsaw Willie on you, it needs to be on the beach below the high tide line.

Camp fires aren't inherently evil and people have been using them for a very long time. But we're in a bad context now. The people who will ignore a burn ban when it's been this dry for this long are mostly the ones who can't take care of it properly. Fall will come, right around when camp fires start getting more and more appropriate, they'll be safer to have too. Until then, it's been a lot of short sleeve nights.

woodway

Plenty of hoo-ha you live East of the Cascades. The North Cascades highway has been closed for a couple of weeks due to wildfire, there is another large fire north of Winthrop and a whole bunch of new fire starts all over the state.

In the Cle Elum area, near my house we had four fire starts over the weekend, one right next to I-90 at Golf Course Road, one up on Kachess Dam road and two down by Thorp. Thank goodness the fire agencies were able to get right on them. To say people are on edge over here is an understatement. It's *dry*, and not all the locals and the visitors who come for the weekend are always responsible in their recreation.

I'm never a fan of closing public lands, but in this case I am very happy that DNR closed things down.

Good site to follow for updates on new fire starts:

=AZXdCJ6pdWObcz-XyVbonmGnU6fRQT5aI1klwl0glgqie0KbZUscF-kQeVBDEneLtjJibETzo-ZU4F4EpfzwBH0TXZlzS7nIeIrGatwYmBi4JHkTVwBKCH4Nb5Rvnms5AjzTw4cKzm4NXv7xb8ImS7Pvne1JySh4Q_pku91R9cOqRK an9VJVrBbjPi1lTTY39vS9SMcVqMW4Cg6WiCEWCHnlqZAJjmrfZ7UQU05w_vV9aUl8cw5rDdLqVTsr5lULzT7LwQwxjdMGUyYRks uz9vax&__tn__=-UC%2CP-y-R]Washington State Fire Wire - Home | Facebook

mtnbud

Consider how many years it takes for an area to recover after a fire. It takes a long time for a fir or pine tree to grow to significant height.

With our long term apparent weather trends, forests may never be quite the same after a fire. Long term drought and hot summers may mean an end to endless square miles of fir and pine trees to be replaced by trees and vegetation better able to survive dry conditions.

Is having a camp fire important enough to risk it? Shards of broken glass on dry grass have been known to start grass fires. A tow chain dragging on rocks causing sparks. Someone carelessly flicking a cigarette out a car window.

Typically fire season is late August through September. We may still have 2 or 3 months before we get any substantial amount of rain here in the PNW.