Franz Asks for Proactive Investment in Fire Resources

Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz used the devastated town of Malden as a backdrop Wednesday to highlight the need for more investment in Washington State's fire resources.

Franz said 586,000 acres have burned over the last 48 hours, four times the acreage burned last year, and half the acreage burned in 2015, the worst fire year in state history.

"We're doing everything possible to get resources from outside the state, but to be frank, throughout this nation from California to Oregon, fires are intense. The winds have been brutal." explained Franz, "Firefighters are fighting a gallant fight, but there is little resources to be found, in the air as well as on the ground."

Franz said the 2015 and 2018 fire seasons should have been a wake-up call, but many Washingtonians simply forget about firefighting efforts the years they don't see smoke.

"Unfortunately too often, the way this state invests is they wait until the crisis is well upon us, and then they invest. When you are in a reaction crisis mode, you wasting not only dollars, but you are risking the lives that are at stake from it. We need to start moving to a proactive investment," continued Franz.

According to Franz, there is a leadership problem developing on the federal level, as many incident management team leaders are heading toward retirement, and the number of teams is inadequate as well.