Representative Joel Kretz of Waconda, Washington has introduced several bills in the legislature that would affect wildland firefighting.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources does not agree with all proposals in every bill, but the DNR has worked with Rep. Kretz to craft a bill containing the concepts they can support, according to the Yakima Herald.
That bill is HB 2093. One of the provisions would authorize an individual to enter privately owned or publicly owned land for the purposes of attempting to extinguish a wildland fire, regardless of whether the individual owns the land. The person would also be protected from civil or criminal liability.
There are some caveats, such as, the individual would not be allowed to fight fire with fire, that is, they could not ignite burnouts or backfires. They would also have to believe that suppression measures would extinguish the fire, and they would be required to notify emergency personnel and the landowner prior to entering the land or within a reasonable time.
Another provision of the bill requires the DNR to conduct outreach to provide basic Incident Command System and wildland fire safety training to landowners in possession of firefighting capability to help ensure that any wildland fire suppression actions taken by private landowners on their own land are accomplished safely and in coordination with any related incident command structure.
The DNR would be required to cooperate with federal wildland firefighting agencies to
maximize the efficient use of local resources in close proximity to wildland fire incidents.
There will be two hearings on the legislation this week. On February 17 a public hearing is scheduled in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources at 10:00 AM. On February 19 there will be an executive session in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources at 1:30 PM.
Other pending legislation in Washington state related to wildland fire sponsored by Rep. Krertz:
- HB 1508: Providing permissive authority for counties to assume authority over local forest fire management.
- HB 1677: Giving preference to using the nearest available qualified firefighters upon notification of a forest fire.
- HB 1699: Addressing legal immunity in instances of citizen-initiated wildfire control.
- HB 1237: Providing landowners with necessary tools for the protection of their property from forest fires.
- HB 1509: Giving priority selection to forest fire suppression resource contractors that are located geographically close to fire suppression activities.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Dick.
