2017 wildfire season breaks national record, blazes 300K acres in Washington

ARLINGTON, Wash. – This year’s fire season has already broken records.

Wildfires across our state are still burning and some of them may not be fully extinguished until snow falls.

While rain is in this weekend’s forecast firefighters warn the wildfire danger is still all around us.



About four acres burned during a quick-moving wildfire that began near Arlington on Thursday evening. By Friday, local firefighters and crews from the Washington State Department of Natural resources had the fire completely contained.

“We’re feeling pretty good about where we’re out now and we’ve got good crews on scene to help keep it under control,” said Jay Guthrie with DNR.

Washington’s fire season has been long and so far burned  more than 300,000 acres, according to DNR. The worst wildfire season on record in our state happened in 2015.

Firefighting has already cost the U.S. Forest Service more than $2 billion nation-wide this year – that price tag has broken records.

“I know it’s getting cooler outside,” said Christie Veley with the Marsyville Fire District. “We had some rain last weekend but don’t let your guard down just yet.”

And even though rain is in our forecast firefighters warn it may not be enough to completely eliminate the threat for fires.

“Larger brush and trees, those are going to take a long time to get their moisture back and that’s why it may take more than one storm for us to get back at safe levels,” said Veley.

Firefighters planned to stick around the wildfire near Arlington through the weekend to prevent it from spreading.

DNR reminds people a state-wide ban on all outdoor burning remains in effect.