{"id":37136,"date":"2022-08-16T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.redmond-reporter.com\/news\/king-county-releases-first-ever-wildfire-risk-reduction-strategy\/"},"modified":"2022-08-16T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T20:00:00","slug":"king-county-releases-first-ever-wildfire-risk-reduction-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redmond-reporter.com\/news\/king-county-releases-first-ever-wildfire-risk-reduction-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"King County releases first-ever Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"
King County Executive Dow Constantine recently announced the region’s first-ever Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy, a set of 12 recommended actions to improve preparedness, response, and recovery as the potential for wildfire increases in Western Washington.<\/p>\n
The Washington Department of Natural Resources recently updated maps that show a significantly expanded of the wildland-urban interface in King County, areas where people and infrastructure are at greater risk when wildfires occur.<\/p>\n
According to the county, more than 350,000 people – about 15 percent of King County’s population – live in the wildland-urban interface.<\/p>\n
“As climate change increases the odds of a devastating wildfire occurring on our side of the Cascades, we are taking immediate action to better protect people, homes, and infrastructure,” said Executive Constantine. “Our experts and partners have delivered a solid set of recommendations that will strengthen our region’s wildfire resilience, response, and recovery.”<\/p>\n
The strategy’s recommended actions are organized around three guiding priorities – making King County forests more resilient to wildfire, reducing risks to communities and infrastructure in the wildland-urban interface, and enhancing emergency response.<\/p>\n
Firefighters responded to more than 700 brush fires in South King County between May 1 and Sept. 30, 2021, according to the county.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of wildfires in Washington – an estimated 85 percent, according to the state Department of Natural Resources – are started by people, and it is expected that figure is likely higher in more densely populated areas, including King County.<\/p>\n
The Puget Sound Regional Council estimates that the population in the four-county area will increase by as much as 1.8 million people by 2050. The county believes that as the population grows, the number of fires ignited by human activity will increase.<\/p>\n
As conditions become more favorable for wildfire in Western Washington, the odds that a smaller fire becomes a large one that cannot be quickly contained increases, particularly if a fire occurs on a late Summer day with strong winds from Eastern Washington.<\/p>\n