The number of wildfires burning across Washington has risen steadily over the past two years, but the 2020 core fire season is looking to pull way ahead in wildfire starts. And this year’s unprecedented uptick in the number of fires has an unforeseen culprit: people cleaning their yards during the pandemic.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 6:40:58 AM - SOURCE: Oregon Public Broadcasting

Puget Sound Fire extinguished two separate apartment fires on June 24 in Kent. At about 12:34 p.m., firefighters responded to the 400 block of Novak Lane for a fire at the Alderbrook Apartments, according to an email from Puget Sound Fire spokesman Capt. Joe Root. Firefighters saw smoke from the window of a third-floor apartment.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 1:13:30 AM - SOURCE: Kent Reporter

PHOTOS: A garden style apartment building on Spa Road partially collapsed on firefighters Thursday afternoon in Annapolis as they were battling a blaze that had enveloped all three floors, city fire officials said. One Anne Arundel County firefighter was injured in the fire, Capt. Aaron Edwards, fire department spokesperson, told The Capital.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Capital Gazette - Metered Site

A McDowell County volunteer firefighter was arrested for murder and arson Thursday after authorities say he set a blaze that led to the death of a fellow firefighter. Robert Lee Beckner, 36, of Iaeger, is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree arson, according to a criminal complaint filed in McDowell County Magistrate Court.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Every year on June 30, the mountain community of Yarnell remembers the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who perished in 2013's Yarnell Hill Fire. Last year, the annual service drew nearly 150 people to a memorial park in the center of town. But this year's 7th anniversary remembrance is taking place virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Arizona Republic