In Okanogan County, Commissioner Jim DeTro describes the old way of fighting fire as rushing in with resources to protect people and property. But he says the new method of attack focuses too heavily on managing the wildfire.
"We need to change things fundamentally. We have to go back to fighting fires and not managing fires, and that comes right back to initial attack," said DeTro.
Sheriff Frank Rogers says after two harsh wildfire seasons back-to-back, the evacuation plan looks good on paper but does not work.
"I'm not knocking the system. Why I'm saying it doesn't work, we have gone out literally and spent hours on a level one, and you just get done and the winds will pick up and so we will go back and spend hours to make it a level two," said Rogers. "In my opinion it comes out of the fire world. It’s those guys. It’s their world. It’s their evacuations. You do it through them and emergency management, but they have to make the call."