Neil Kayser knows the damage a wildfire can cause livestock operations.
Kayser, a fourth-generation rancher from the Goldendale area, lost several head of cattle in last year’s Cougar Creek fire near Mount Adams. He’s also bypassed roadblocks to save his livestock from advancing fires.
“A cow, to us, is like a factory,” Kayser said in a phone interview last week. “We worked for generations building up the genetics in these cattle, and it’s not like you can go down to the sales yard or somewhere else the next day to replace them.”
Which is why Kayser and other cattlemen head out to fire areas with their horses and cattle trucks to move the animals out of harm’s way. But that can put ranchers at odds with firefighters, who try to keep non-emergency workers out of the way of fires and their firefighting efforts.
A bill that has moved through the Legislature with strong support would allow livestock owners to enter fire zones to retrieve their animals, as long as doing so does not interfere with firefighting efforts, and the livestock owners and their employees assume responsibility for what happens to them in the fire zone. House Bill 2925 passed the House on a 97-1 vote, with Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, casting the lone no vote. The Senate passed the bill 47-0, and it was submitted to Gov. Jay Inslee on March 7. By law, he has until March 30 to sign or veto it. Inslee will decide whether to sign the bill closer to the deadline, said spokeswoman Jaime Smith.