Last year, Labor Day weekend was a wake-up call. Fires raged on both sides of the state including fires near Deception Pass leading to the north end of Whidbey Island and were put out with the help of helicopters said the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
Washingtonians can no longer assume that the wetter west side of the state is immune from wildfire, and that bad fires are only a problem for the typically drier part of the state east of the Cascade Mountains. This week, Whidbey Island residents joined the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies and organizations to clear out brush and low-hanging branches known as ladder fuels.
Ladder fuels can easily transport fire that initially moves through flammable debris on the forest floor, up into the crown of the trees often with catastrophic results.