Red Flag (Fire Weather) Warning in Washington
AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR WESTERN COLUMBIA BASIN AND
WATERVILLE PLATEAU...
Winds have decreased this evening and humidity has increase. Thus
the threat of fast spreading fires has decreased, allowing the
warning to expire.
Related News
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Each summer as temperatures soar and Washington's forests and grasses dry out, the state's wildfire experts hold their breath, hoping that a devastating megafire won't tear through valuable timber or grazing lands, scorch beloved wilderness or destroy lives ...
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Tips from ready.gov
Excerpted from ready.gov
Before:
- To begin preparing, you should build an emergency kit and make a family communications plan.
- Plant fire-resistant shrubs and trees. For example, hardwood trees are less flammable than pine, evergreen, eucalyptus or fir trees.
Regularly clean roof and gutters. - Use 1/8-inch mesh screen beneath porches, decks, floor areas, and the home itself. Also, screen openings to floors, roof and attic.
- Keep handy household items that can be used as fire tools: a rake, axe, handsaw or chain saw, bucket and shovel.
- Consider installing protective shutters or heavy fire-resistant drapes.
- Clear items that will burn from around the house, including wood piles, lawn furniture, barbecue grills, tarp coverings, etc. Move them outside of your defensible space.
- Identify and maintain an adequate outside water source such as a small pond, cistern, well, swimming pool, or hydrant.
- Have a garden hose that is long enough to reach any area of the home and other structures on the property.
- More about what to do before a wildfire.
Excerpted from ready.gov
During:
- Wear protective clothing when outside – sturdy shoes, cotton or woolen clothes, long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, gloves and a handkerchief to protect your face.
- Close outside attic, eaves and basement vents, windows, doors, pet doors, etc. Remove flammable drapes and curtains. Close all shutters, blinds or heavy non-combustible window coverings to reduce radiant heat.
- Close all doors inside the house to prevent draft. Open the damper on your fireplace, but close the fireplace screen.
- Shut off any natural gas, propane or fuel oil supplies at the source.
- Connect garden hoses to outdoor water faucet and fill any pools, hot tubs, garbage cans, tubs or other large containers with water.
- Place lawn sprinklers on the roof and near above-ground fuel tanks. Leave sprinklers on and dowsing these strutures as long as possible.
- If you have gas-powered pumps for water, make sure they are fueled and ready.
Place a ladder against the house in clear view. - More about what to do during a wildfire.
What is a Red Flag Warning?
A Warning issued by National Weather Service fire weather forecasters to alert forecast users to an ongoing or imminent critical fire weather pattern. The warning product alerts land management agencies to the potential for widespread new ignitions or control problems with existing fires, both of which could pose a threat to life and property.
It is issued when it is an on-going event or the fire weather forecaster has a high degree of confidence that Red Flag criteria will occur within 48 hours of issuance. Red Flag criteria is based on local area vegetation characteristics, local climatology, select weather criteria and/or any combination of critical weather and fuel moisture forecasts. In some states, dry lightning and unstable air are criteria. A Fire Weather Watch may be issued prior to the Red Flag Warning.