Wildfire responders in Western Washington — including Skagit County — are preparing for a particularly bad wildfire season. With less precipitation than normal so far in 2019 and snowpack in the North Cascades depleting rapidly, conditions are already abnormally dry and much of the western side of the state has been declared in or at risk of drought.
- PUB DATE: 5/27/2019 1:38:57 PM - SOURCE: KEPR-TV CBS 19

Firefighters are cleaning up after a cooking fire at an apartment complex in Richland filled the hallways with smoke. Fire officials say the fire started just before 2 p.m. after someone left their cooking unattended at the "D" building of the Cedar North Apartments near George Washington Way and Van Giesen Street.
- PUB DATE: 5/26/2019 3:18:30 PM - SOURCE: YakTriNews

Thanks to a government grant, some West Plains firefighters should be able to breathe a little easier. Spokane County Fire District 10 received 78 new self-contained breathing apparatuses via a Federal Emergency Management Act grant worth more than $600,000. The grant provides the new air packs along with 156 bottles to replace the district’s outdated packs.
- PUB DATE: 5/26/2019 1:44:02 AM - SOURCE: Cheney Free Press

Clark County will play host to some extra fire protection this summer as county council OK’d an agreement allowing for firefighting helicopter staging at Camp Bonneville. The Clark County Council approved 3-0 during their May 21 an agreement allowing the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to set up a forward operating base at the west end of the camp.
- PUB DATE: 5/25/2019 1:44:58 AM - SOURCE: The Reflector

A bill that would increase penalties for Scott’s Law violations has passed both chambers of the General Assembly. Democratic Rep. Marcus Evans, of Chicago, said the 2002 “Slow Down or Move Over Law” was passed in memory of the death of Lt. Scott Gillen, a firefighter who was killed by a passing motorist while assisting a traffic accident.
- PUB DATE: 5/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Herald