It's shaping up to be a nasty wildfire season.
Two fires that began last week in Oso and Gold Bar were larger than normal for this early in the spring.
“Years ago, (fire season) used to start after July 4,” said Janet Pearce, spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources. “But anymore, the fires tend to start earlier.”
Pearce was surprised by the size of the burns in Oso and Gold Bar.
“To have one that's 300 acres is alarming, especially because it's on the west side,” she said.
As of Monday, the state Department of Natural Resources had been called out to 88 fires this year. Those fires have burned a total of 476 acres statewide. At the same point last year, the department had responded to 119 fires that burned 322 acres.
The January-to-May window this year and last year saw significantly more wildfires than Washington normally endures. On average over the previous 10 years, the department handled 67 fires between Jan. 1 and May 16. An average of 298 acres burned during those months.
To have large fires so soon doesn't bode well for the months ahead.
“We are predicting a bad fire season, a really bad one,” Pearce said. “I would love it if we were wrong.”
This winter was wet, with mountain snowfall near normal levels and plenty of rain in the lowlands. The wet winter followed by unseasonably warm weather in recent weeks spurred rapid growth of grass, trees and brush.