State funding helped keep this summer’s devastating wildfire season from spiraling out of control, Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove said Tuesday.
In 2021, the state committed $500 million over eight years to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for fire prevention. The legislature largely kept up with that commitment until 2024, when it allocated about $60 million over two years — roughly half of what was needed to stay on track with the $500 million total.
This year, the legislature restored full funding ahead of the worst wildfire season in Washington’s recorded history.
In Eastern Washington, the Spokane Complex Wildfires destroyed almost 650 homes and forced about 65,000 people to evacuate. Two major fires on the Colville Indian Reservation collectively burned more than 200,000 acres.
More than 1,500 fires and 1 million acres burned across the state, Upthegrove said.
He credited restored state funding with helping to prepare agencies to fight these fires.
“We trained up firefighters before the season,” he said. “We pre-positioned our assets. We entered into interagency agreements and mutual aid agreements with other states. We trained up National Guard troops before we even knew whether we needed them.”
Upthegrove also pointed to earlier prevention work that took place across Washington.
“We invested every penny the legislature would give us in thinning the forests and using prescribed fire to reduce that fuel,” he said.
He is now asking the 2027 legislature to continue to fully fund fire prevention and preparedness efforts in the state.
“It costs a lot more to put out a wildfire and — God forbid — rebuild a community than it does to invest in prevention, preparedness and resilience,” he said.
Upthegrove said he does not yet know how much fire suppression cost the state in total this summer. In August alone, DNR spent more than $200 million battling 20 fires, including the Spokane Complex Fires.
Upthegrove wants the legislature to allocate $60 million a year toward wildfire prevention going forward.
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said she supports Upthegrove’s request.
“I'm very glad we're actually here talking about what's at stake and why we have to come together and not simply respond to each fire season as it comes, but make the strategic investments — preparedness, mitigation, emergency response, infrastructure — to protect all our communities and all our people in the future,” she said.
The 2027 Washington state legislature will convene on January 11.
