Wildfires Consume More Than 330,000 Acres in Washington State in Just 24-hours

Fueled by high winds and an abundance of dry brush, the state of Washington continues to deal with wind-whipped wildfires that on Tuesday consumed more than 330,000 acres of brush and timber. Washington Governor Jay Inslee, at a news conference on Tuesday evening said, “An estimated 330,000 acres of our state burned just in 24 hours. More acres burned yesterday than in 12 of the last entire fire seasons in the state of Washington. We think all of these are human-caused in some dimension.” At the same news conference state public lands Commissioner Hilary Franz said 58 fires across the state were started Monday. “We were able to put most of them out”. Franz went onto say that National Guard troops were assisting firefighters. However, hot weather, “hurricane-force winds” and dry brush are working against them. Noting that “The winds and visibility grounded our planes and helicopters.”