Olympia – State fire assistance has been mobilized under the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan to pre-position firefighting resources in order to respond to potential wildfires. The resources will be staged in Kittitas, Yakima, and Klickitat Counties. These areas have experienced multiple days of hot, dry, and windy conditions and are presently under National Weather Service Red Flag Warnings. Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the mobilization of state firefighting resources on July 9, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. at the request of Lower Columbia Fire Defense Region Coordinator and Fire Chief Wesley Long, Klickitat County Fire District 3.
The State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray remains activated to Level 2, partial activation, to help coordinate state assistance with this pre-positioning event. Mobilization specialists from the Fire Protection Bureau have ordered three strike teams at this time. State Fire Marshal’s Office personnel are working remotely to coordinate the dispatch of resources.
Under the State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan, the Fire Protection Bureau coordinates the initial dispatch and continued administrative oversight of resources and personnel for the duration of the mobilization. The Mobilization Plan is implemented to provide a process to quickly notify, assemble and deploy fire service personnel, equipment and other resources from around the state when fires, disasters or other events exceed the capacity of local jurisdictions. More information about the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan is available at: http://www.wsp.wa.gov/all-risk-mobilization/.
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