State lands commissioner, gubernatorial candidate Franz touts Reflection Lake as ‘Wildfire Ready’ during trip to Spokane County

Wildfire season is on the horizon, and the state of Washington is ready for battle.

That was the message from Hilary Franz, Commissioner of Public Lands and governor hopeful, as she discussed state firefighting resources Friday at Reflection Lake, which was the first community to join a state program, Wildfire Ready Neighbors, that helps homeowners protect their residences from fires.

“The fact is, every single year we’re seeing an increase in catastrophic fires, and this community is not a stranger to it,” she told a small crowd beside the lake in north Spokane County.

As the region gets hotter and drier and more people move into the woods, the state Department of Natural Resources is facing a growing challenge of keeping landscapes and communities safe from wildfires, Franz said.

She said the state continues to invest money and resources into wildfire fighting, including 34 aircraft positioned throughout the state and 18 fire trucks delivered to communities this year, the latter of which was double what it provided last year.

Franz said homeowners can be part of the firefighting team by making their homes more resilient to wildfires.

She commended Reflection Lake for its efforts as part of Wildfire Ready Neighbors.

The program launched in 2021, inspired by the fire that destroyed the small Whitman County town of Malden in 2020.

Franz said she realized the state can’t keep simply fighting fires, but must take more steps to prevent them.

“We have to add another leg of the stool to protect the people of Washington state, and that other leg of that stool is bringing the resources to our homes, to our neighborhoods, to our communities, to get more resilient to these fires,” she said.

The program started in the three “highest-risk” counties – Spokane (Reflection Lake), Okanogan and Chelan. The program spread to Kittitas, Klickitat, Yakima, Pierce, Thurston and Mason counties.

“The more that our homeowners can take steps, the safer they will be and the safer our firefighters will be,” Franz said.

With the help of the state, fire and conservation districts and other local resources, over 4,000 homes have cleaned gutters, cut grasses and removed trees around their property to create a defense against fires.

“What I love most about this program is how people are coming together,” Franz said. “They’re coming together to say, ‘We want to take care of ourselves, but we also want to take care of our neighbors, and we want to take care of our community.’ ”

Since Wildfire Ready Neighbors kicked off two years ago, Spokane County Fire District 4 and the Department of Natural Resources completed 351 “home ignition assessments” in the district, Fire District 4 Chief Bill Neckels said.

“That’s a great start,” Neckels said. “However, there’s still lots of work to do.”

Neckels said the district will receive a $1.4 million U.S. Forest Service Community Wildfire Defense Grant that will allow it to reduce wildfire fuels in prominent areas, establish two more Firewise communities and hire a wildfire risk specialist to help prevent fires.