Firefighters are holding their breath

After two consecutive record-setting seasons in Washington state, a kinder, more gentle July is over and, knock on an unburned tree near you, the number of wildfires and acreage burned is way down.

The Smokey Bear sign on State Route 904 between Four Lakes and Cheney said it all in mid-July, proclaiming a blue "moderate" fire danger.

"Moderate (fire danger) in the middle of July in Spokane County is a rarity," Guy Gifford, public information officer for the Department of Natural Resources, said.

The region was actually in a high level the end of June, so to be lower later in the season is even more unusual.

"I've been doing the fire danger rating for eight years and I can not recall it going from a high to moderate in the middle of summer," Gifford said. The rating is a five-part scale that runs from low, moderate, high, very high and extreme.

The scale is determined from a combination of factors and derived from statistics delivered by remote weather stations around the region. "We also look at fire starts, how big fires are getting," Gifford explained. "It's a combination of science and local knowledge."

The statistics also bare out a significant reduction in this year's fire season damage. As of July 21, fires of various origins had burned just under 225 acres in the northeast section of Washington state - Ferry, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Spokane and Stevens counties.

In 2015 that number was 2,400 acres and in 2014 over 160,000 acres.

As of July 21, Spokane County had 63 fires reported. In 2015 that number was 103. Statewide there have been 345 fires this year, compared to 576, burning 1,600 acres. In 2015 fires had consumed 12,000 acres by the same time.

But it's early, Gifford reminded. The numbers in 2015 did not grow until August, he said, when the major fires hit Okanogan, Ferry and Stevens counties.

Any span of 90-degree temperatures quickly elevates the fire danger, and within a week the SR 904 sign was showing a high fire danger.

What lies ahead is anybody's guess, Bruce Holloway, Fire Chief, Spokane County Fire District 3, said.

"We had a good spring with moisture, but it's over," Holloway said. "Now it depends on what happens between now and the end of September."

Thunder and lightning storms, with moisture predicted, will cut down on the likelihood of a bad outbreak of fires.

The perfect storm, so-to-speak, for wildfires encompasses three important numbers, Holloway said. "Anytime it's more than a 20 mile-per-hour wind, more than an 80-degree temperature and less than 20 percent humidity, it's a bad day."

On days like that, the focus is to try to keep up with a fire, Holloway explained. "If a fire starts on one of those days and gets a going, it's a tough one."

"People tell me to predict the fire season," Holloway said. He tells them to "Call in November and I'll tell you exactly what it was because I haven't got a clue (now)."

Gifford stressed it is still a great time for residents to be proactive in fire prevention with their properties. That task falls on homeowners, Gifford said, as DNR crews who assist in removal of fuels are booked up.

Grants that pay half the cost of thinning trees and cleanup are available, he said.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Firestorm 1991, a series of blazes that ravaged Spokane County in October and help illustrate that the fire season sometimes seems to never end.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].