Effort to reduce wildfires a key issue for 2026 Legislature

GUEST OPINION

The state Department of Natural Resources may not own a crystal ball, but last year it certainly seemed as if it could predict the future. In the spring it spent $124,000 to create a firebreak in the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest. Just a few months later, on Labor Day, a lightning strike near Blewett Pass touched off what became known as the Labor Mountain Fire. It took 1,400 firefighters to bring it under control, and by the time it was extinguished 52 days later, 43,000 acres had burned.