Wildfire
Hotter summers, drier forests, longer fire seasons. If you live in the wildland-urban interface, this isn't theoretical. Here's how to prepare, when to leave, and what to take.
The first fifteen minutes
It's a Sunday afternoon in August. Ninety-four degrees. It hasn't rained in six weeks. Rosa is watering the garden behind their house in Peshastin, just east of Leavenworth — not because it'll help, but because doing something feels better than watching the ridge.
She sees the smoke column first. It's over Icicle Ridge, to the southwest, and it's building fast — not the lazy drift of a campfire spotted from distance, but a dark, organized column climbing straight up in the still air. She drops the hose and walks around to the south side of the house for a better angle. The column has a base glow. It's closer than she thought.
James is inside. She calls to him. He comes out, looks at the column, and says one word: "Go." They've had this conversation. They know their access road is a single lane with no turnaround — a quarter mile of gravel through ponderosa pine. If the fire reaches the road before they do, the road is useless.
The go-bag is in the truck. It's been in the truck since July. Clothes for three days, toiletries, chargers, medications, copies of their insurance documents, the external hard drive with their tax records and James's photography. Cash. A list of what they own for the insurance claim they hope they never have to file.
Rosa grabs the cat. James does a walk-through — thirty seconds, no more. Closes interior doors. Leaves the exterior lights on so firefighters can see the house in smoke. Leaves the gate unlocked. Shuts off the propane. They're in the truck and moving in nine minutes.
On the access road, the air is already hazy. Through the rearview mirror, the column is orange at the base now. They reach US-2 and turn west toward Leavenworth. The road is open. Others are not as early. A mile behind them, the first fire engine is headed the other direction.
The photo albums are on the shelf above the washing machine. They didn't take them. Rosa thinks about this on the drive and doesn't say anything. James is thinking about it too.
What's happening in the forest
Fire in the Pacific Northwest
Washington State is two landscapes divided by the Cascade Range. West of the crest: wet, temperate, dense conifer forest. East: drier, thinner, fire-adapted. The east side has always burned. Ponderosa pine evolved to survive low-intensity ground fires — its thick bark and self-pruning habit are adaptations to a landscape that expects fire.
What's changed is the pattern. A century of fire suppression allowed fuels to accumulate — dead wood, brush, small trees that would have burned in regular low-intensity fires now form a continuous fuel ladder from the ground to the canopy. When fire returns to these overgrown forests, it doesn't stay on the ground. It climbs.
Add hotter summers, earlier snowmelt, and longer dry seasons, and you get what we've seen: the 2020 Labor Day fires burned over a million acres across Washington and Oregon in 72 hours. Towns that had never been under evacuation orders received them for the first time. The fires didn't care that the calendar said it was only early September.
The wildland-urban interface
The WUI (pronounced "woo-ee") is where human development meets wildland vegetation. In Washington, hundreds of thousands of homes are in the WUI. Every house in the WUI is, during fire season, a structure that could burn.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't live there. It means you should know what your house needs to survive a fire that you might not be present to fight: defensible space, fire-resistant materials, clear access for emergency vehicles, and a plan for when to leave that doesn't depend on waiting for someone to tell you.
How wildfire reaches houses
Most homes ignited by wildfire aren't hit by the fire front directly. They're ignited by embers — burning pieces of material carried by wind, sometimes more than a mile ahead of the fire. Embers land in gutters, on wooden decks, against siding, in attic vents. Defensible space matters, but ember-resistant construction matters more. Clean your gutters. Screen your vents. Don't stack firewood against the house.
Smoke and air quality
Even if fire never reaches your property, smoke can. In 2020 and 2022, Seattle and Portland experienced some of the worst air quality in the world due to wildfire smoke — worse than Delhi, worse than Beijing. Smoke carries fine particulate matter (PM2.5) deep into the lungs. If you have respiratory conditions, young children, or elderly family members, this is a health emergency that requires preparation even if you're nowhere near the fire itself.
What to do
Before, during, and after
Before fire season
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Create defensible space
Zone 1 (0-5 feet from the house): nothing combustible. No mulch, no plants, no wood against the structure. Zone 2 (5-30 feet): low, green, well-watered vegetation, no continuous tree canopy. Zone 3 (30-100 feet): thin trees, remove dead wood and brush. This is the work that gives firefighters something to defend.
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Harden your home
Screen attic and foundation vents with 1/8-inch metal mesh. Replace wood shake roofs. Enclose under-deck areas. Clean gutters. Move firewood at least 30 feet from the house. These measures protect against ember ignition — the primary way homes burn in wildfires.
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Know your evacuation route
Drive it. Time it. Know what happens if it's blocked. If you have one access road, know this: you may not get a second chance to decide. Washington uses a three-level evacuation system — Level 1 (get ready), Level 2 (be set), Level 3 (go now). Don't wait for Level 3 if conditions are moving fast.
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Pack a go-bag and keep it in your vehicle
Clothes for three days, medications, chargers, important documents (insurance, IDs, medical records), cash, pet supplies if applicable. If it's in the truck, you don't need to remember it under stress. Repack at the start of each fire season.
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Document your property
Walk through every room and take video. Open drawers and closets. This video is for insurance. Store it in the cloud and on a portable drive in your go-bag. If you lose the house, this is what proves what you had.
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Prepare for smoke
Buy N95 or P100 masks (the real kind, fitted, not surgical masks). Buy a portable HEPA air purifier for at least one room. Create a clean air room — seal the windows with plastic sheeting and painter's tape, run the purifier. Monitor AirNow.gov and the Fire and Smoke Map.
When fire is reported nearby
Leave early
The most dangerous place to be during a wildfire evacuation is on a clogged road in heavy smoke. If you live in the WUI and you can see a smoke column, or you're at Level 1 evacuation and conditions are hot, dry, and windy — consider leaving before you're told to. Especially if you have a single-lane access road. Early is safe. Late is a gamble.
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Monitor official channels
County emergency management, local sheriff, WA EMD. Sign up for emergency alerts for your county. Follow your county's emergency management social media — during fast-moving fires, updates come there first.
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If you stay until Level 2
Close all windows and doors. Move combustible furniture away from windows. Connect garden hoses. Close propane/gas valves. Leave exterior lights on. Leave the gate unlocked. Have the go-bag in the vehicle. Be ready to leave in minutes, not hours.
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When you leave
Take the go-bag, pets, medications, phone and charger. Close interior doors (slows fire spread inside the house). Leave a note on the door saying you've evacuated and when. Drive with headlights on. If smoke is heavy, slow down — visibility can drop to yards.
Smoke events (even far from fire)
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Stay inside when AQI exceeds 150
Close windows. Run the HEPA purifier. Avoid exercise. Check on elderly or respiratory-compromised neighbors. An AQI above 200 is dangerous for everyone — not just sensitive groups.
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Use N95 masks outdoors
Surgical masks and cloth masks don't filter PM2.5. Only N95 or P100 respirators, properly fitted, provide meaningful protection in heavy smoke. Stock these before fire season — they sell out fast.
What to have ready
Your wildfire supplies
Wildfire preparedness has two components: hardening your home (long-term) and packing your go-bag (before each season). The full checklist with quantities is in our build-your-kit guide.
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Critical
Go-bag (in your vehicle)
Clothes, medications, documents, cash, chargers, pet supplies. If it's in the truck, you don't have to think about it when the smoke is visible.
Assemble yourself. Use a duffel or backpack you can grab one-handed. Repack each June.
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Critical
N95 or P100 masks (10+)
Smoke events last days to weeks. You need enough for your household for the duration. Surgical masks don't filter fine particulate.
Hardware store, pharmacy, or online. Buy before fire season — they sell out once smoke arrives.
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Critical
Portable HEPA air purifier
For your clean air room. One room with sealed windows and a HEPA purifier can maintain breathable air quality when outside AQI exceeds 300.
Home improvement store or online. Get one rated for the room size.
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Important
Property documentation (video + photos)
If you lose the house, your insurance claim depends on proving what you had. A 10-minute walkthrough video of every room is worth more than a written inventory.
Your phone. Store in cloud storage AND on a portable drive in your go-bag.
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Important
1/8-inch metal mesh for vents
Screens attic and foundation vents against ember intrusion. Standard window screen is too coarse — embers pass right through.
Hardware store. Measure your vents before buying. This is a one-time installation.
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Recommended
Plastic sheeting and painter's tape
For sealing your clean air room during extended smoke events. Cover windows and any gaps where smoke infiltrates.
Hardware store. Inexpensive, compact, effective.
What Rosa and James did right
They spend three nights at a Red Cross shelter in Wenatchee. It isn't comfortable. Rosa checks the county's evacuation map every few hours on her phone. On Wednesday, the incident commander posts that the fire line held at the ridge above Peshastin. Their road is reopened Thursday morning.
They drive back expecting the worst. The smoke is thick enough that they miss their driveway on the first pass. But the house is standing. The defensible space held — the firefighters had something to work with. The deck has heat marks on the south-facing rail. The garden is scorched. The ponderosa pine nearest the house lost its lower branches but its thick bark held. It was built for this.
The photo albums are on the shelf above the washing machine. Right where they left them. Rosa puts them in the truck. They don't go back on the shelf.
After the fire, James buys a fireproof document safe and a scanner. They scan every photograph — 1,200 of them — and store the files in the cloud. It takes three weekends. Neither of them complains.
The difference between Rosa and James and their neighbors who lost everything? They thought about it before it happened. They cleared the brush. They packed the bag. They left early. None of it was complicated. All of it mattered.