Wildfire prep saved structures in Burdoin Fire area in the Gorge

Officials from the Washington Department of Natural Resources had the rare opportunity last week to see how well strategies to minimize wildfire damage held up to an actual fire.

Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove, DNR staff, local officials and others toured properties in a fire-damaged area near White Salmon.

The Burdoin Fire ignited near Lyle on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge around 2:30 p.m. July 18. By the time it was finally extinguished the following month, the fire had burned more than 11,000 acres, destroyed 45 structures — including homes, outbuildings and a winery — and forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

“(The residents) weren’t given a lot of time. I think it was like 8-10 minutes,” said Alison Martin, forest resilience coordinator for DNR.

Martin said it was clear the work residents had done with assistance from DNR to prepare homes and land paid off.

“When you look at the fire map … there is an area just north of their properties where it becomes pretty obvious that the fire slowed down,” Martin said.

Not only was there less fuel available to feed the fire, but firefighters were better able to access the site and directly attack the fire, she said.

DNR works with residents through its fire resilience program, offering up to $4,000 for fire-prevention projects. Reimbursements go to National Fire Protection Association affiliates to implement wildfire risk reduction action plans.

“We focus on a lot of understory clearing, which means the brushy ladder fuels that allow fire to climb from the forest floor up into the canopies,” Martin said.

This includes removing lower limbs from trees, clearing out shrubs and brushy plants, and removing plants, bushes and small trees around structures.

Megan Murphy is one of the property owners who worked with DNR to implement fire strategies on her property. Although a mobile home was destroyed in the fire, a nearby outbuilding and bunkhouse survived.

“I can’t understand how anyone would question the thesis of these programs. This is Mother Nature, this is fire, right? And while I have three structures on my property, two of them survived,” Murphy said.

Murphy was able to do the work on her property thanks in part to the fire resilience program. But the program is now at serious risk after the Legislature cut a significant amount from the department’s budget.

In 2021, the Legislature approved a bill which committed $500 million over eight years to DNR for wildfire preparedness and response. Biennial allocations had been meeting that commitment with DNR receiving $115 million in the current two-year budget and $130 million in the prior budget. But with a budget shortfall looming, legislators slashed the wildfire readiness funding to just $60 million for 2026-27.

“It’s absolutely worth the investment,” Murphy said. “The program also supported the work that was done on the road, the gravel road that led to our home. The fire trucks wouldn’t have gotten there otherwise.”

While she understands the state is wrestling with a budget crunch, Murphy said she can’t understand why lawmakers would cut funding for this program when the cost of preventing wildfires is far less than actually fighting a fire.

“It was a million dollars a day to fight that fire,” Murphy said. “I would love to have heard the debate around the trade-off that drove the legislators to decide that the (return on investment) wasn’t there to preserve this program.”

Martin said it’s crucial to have residents such as Murphy, who support the program, help spread the word to neighbors to create a fire-resilient area.

“We have been working on a project with the city of White Salmon and the residents there to put a fuel break in around the entire city. The one thing that was always lacking was community engagement,” she said.

That changed this year, after the first phase of the project was completed in the spring before the Burdoin Fire.

“Folks either see what their neighbors had done and they really like the look of it because it’s not what they thought it was. Or, after an incident like the Burdoin Fire, they see the benefits that it can have and are now wanting to protect their own properties and homes,” Martin said.

Martin is worried about how the budget cuts will impact DNR’s programs and staff, as well. Currently, 15 staff members are assigned to DNR’s southwest region.

“That is going to have its impacts on small forest landowners across Washington,” she said.

In the meantime, Martin said they will continue to support property owners and work on fire resiliency efforts to the best of their ability.

“I just try to remind people that we’re just here to help. You can take the help but you don’t have to. We’re just happy to be able to assist you however we can,” she said.

This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.