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As smoke smothers East Coast, Northwest senators talk wildfire response and prevention

Both Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) spoke at Thursday's Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing.

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — While wildfire smoke is nothing new for the Pacific Northwest, this week saw smoke choking parts of the East Coast, including in New York City and Washington D.C.

At a hearing for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Thursday, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said, "It's really appropriate to be holding this hearing. For those of you who live on the East Coast, welcome to our air. In the West, this is common."

Senators at the hearing questioned fire officials about federal wildfire response and land management reforms.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) showed the latest outlook maps released from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). The maps show which states have the potential for significant wildland fires.

Currently, it shows most of Washington, including the west side, to be one of the areas that’s most at risk of fires from July to September.

“My whole state is in the forecast for this summer being in the epicenter of this,” she said.

Right now, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows most of western Washington is abnormally dry, while the majority of eastern Washington’s in the clear.

Meanwhile, much of northern Idaho is seeing moderate drought conditions.
However, NIFC expects to see drier conditions as summer moves in.

Sen. Cantwell also spoke about using prescribed burns to remove fire fuel: 

“There's probably very hardly any time now to do subscribe burns in the middle of summer. It just doesn't happen.”

Sen. Fisch also spoke about managing fire fuels at the hearing: "For years, we have focused on putting out fires and we were very, very successful at it. And by being successful at it, we've caused the problem that we've got.”

And with wildfire season just getting started, it's a problem that's expected to continue.

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