Fire officials are preparing for a hot, dry summer that could leave the region in danger of wildfires.
“That’s if I had to predict what was going to happen,” Fire District 3 Chief of Fire Prevention Dustin Flock said. “We don’t really know where it’s going to be or what it’s going to do.”
After weeks of summer without excessive stretches of scorching weather or smoke-filled skies, conditions took a devastating turn in mid-August when two human-caused wildfires burned hundreds of homes in Medical Lake and near Elk. It’s unlikely wildfires will burn in those areas again, Flock said. But other areas are a big risk.
The Aspen Meadows area between Cheney and Spangle comes to his mind when he thinks of places at a high risk for fire, as well as Mullen Hill off Highway 195.