Wildfire risks in Seattle and Eastside? (Kirkland, Sammamish: real estate, 2015, apartments)

[flyingsaucermom]

We're coming up on 7 years in the area out of which two have included fires/heat/drought (2015, 2017). I am not a science-denier. I find scientific explanations for climate change to be very straightforward and digestible. I expect more of the same, and worse, in years to come...

The BC and WA fires last summer made me somber, but the breakout fires in CA this fall and winter have made me concerned. The Issaquah Highlands and most other areas of Issaquah, Sammamish and Snoqualmie are built right into or around the forest... it's one of the amenities that drew us out here in the first place... but now I'm worried how much risk we're living with by being here. As my husband and I look at buying investment properties we're wondering if we might be better off choosing communities closer in and away from the trees.

I did a basic search to see if Issaquah has experienced fires in the past and, low and behold, there is a video, and even more crazy: the 2009 footage of an Issaquah Highlands fire happens to be in the woods next to my condo.


[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THxQoWfnStI[/url]

Not sure if anyone around here is thinking about it, but if so they're keeping it to themselves. I suppose I wouldn't be considering it much if I weren't looking at buying real estate that I intend to hold for several decades. I had really intended to buy another condo here and rent out our current one. Now I'm thinking maybe we'll buy elsewhere and sell this one once the kids are out of school.

Could the risk of wildfire on the Eastside be greater than the risk of the "Big One"?

Never thought so before, but now I'm not entirely sure.

[Hemlock140]

I worked in Oakland, CA during the Oakland Hills fire of 1991, the year before moving here. That one destroyed 2,843 houses and 437 apartments/condos, and the area was much like the eastside. Yes, I have thought about it when we were dry and hot in August, having several 75' tall firs on our property and woods nearby. The biggest difference, however, is that we average 66" of rain (about 50" in the Highlands) spread out over 9-10 months of the year. Our "fire season" is only 2-3 months, so far less risk than Southern CA or eastern Washington, but yes, it's definitely something to be aware of. Despite the law banning fireworks in Sammamish, I water our lawns thoroughly on July 4th. I remember in the 1990s when it almost always rained that day, with summer starting 7/5, but in recent years it's been a dry 4th.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_firestorm_of_1991

[Thom52]

A few years back we had a house burn down about a block and a half away from our house in a very woodsy part of Kirkland. Fire department responded quickly, although they did get a bit lost on our maze of streets and the fast burning fire burned the house down to the ground. Scariest part from our perspective was watching the flames shoot up into the evergreens, and this was in the summer. I will applaud the fire department that they were able to keep it from spreading through the trees, but all the trees around that house were definitely scorched, and if they really caught, it would be like a fuse going through the neighborhoods.

I figure with all the homeless taking up residence in all the greenbelts, one dry August day it will turn into a disaster. Definitely a miracle it hasn't happened already.

[Diana Holbrook]

We have two months out of the year when forest fires are a significant risk in the Western Washington lowlands. People need to be careful then. Unfortunately, those months are July and August, when people like to shoot off fireworks. Even then, fires in heavily wooded areas tend to not be huge, here.

Even when it's dry, it's usually too green to burn hot uncontrollably in our heavy forest with dark green understories.

I live very close to a fire that burned a 400 acre area of mostly dry grass this past summer, but only made it a short distance into the trees. At the time, it felt very dry out, and we felt very vulnerable. We have a pretty good 'defensible' space around our house with no close trees.... but this fire jumped a quarter of a mile to a spot on the other side of the freeway before it was done, so that didn't feel real comforting.

Our place is at the bottom of the screen... you can see the blackened burn area, still smoldering, in the grasslands near the top of the picture.

[grega94]

you shouldn't be to worried about wild fires in western WA, they will never be as big or severe as the ones out in the east where it's much drier and hotter. However what I'm worried about is if the wild fires of the magnitude we saw last year becomes common place for eastern Washington, then our air quality will become bad in the summer. That was the first time that I saw it so smokey in Seattle.

[xPlorer48]

Originally Posted by grega94

you shouldn't be to worried about wild fires in western WA, they will never be as big or severe as the ones out in the east where it's much drier and hotter. However what I'm worried about is if the wild fires of the magnitude we saw last year becomes common place for eastern Washington, then our air quality will become bad in the summer. That was the first time that I saw it so smokey in Seattle.

Yes, I agree. We were smoked by wildfires this past summer from BC and Oregon and in 2016 or was it 2015 in the North Cascades. It is scary. We live in the Foothills in NW Washington surrounded by forests. Thankfully, the private forestry lands up the road are now gated. Before they were, people would have campfires and set off firecrackers. That activity started a decent sized fire which could have spread to us.

There is a firecracker ban in the city limits but not outside. Our closest neighbors don’t shoot firecrackers but some of the others set off the big ones. My concern is more about our pups who absolutely hate the noise. If there was a ban in the county, it couldn’t be enforced anyway and the tribes make $$$$$$$.

We own a small private campground with fire pits but absolutely enforce the ban even before state or local limits. We have old second growth fir, cedar, hemlock plus birch and alder on our acreage. It can get pretty dry around here so we take extra precautions.