The Bothell Fire Department will soon be authorized to issue wildland fire training certifications, known as red cards, to city firefighters after the City Council voted on Tuesday, April 5 to proceed with an interlocal agreement.

Approval by the council allows the city to become a member of the South Puget Sound Fire Coordination Group (Coordination Group), a subset of the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) which oversees training, certification and de-certification of wildland firefighters.

Approximately 15 Bothell firefighters have assisted in fighting devastating wildfires each year since 2013, which have scorched some 1.54 million acres, an area roughly the size of the state of Deleware, one million of which burned last year alone.

Each spring wildland firefighters must either renew or complete their red-card certification. While training is already conducted by individual fire agencies, such as the Bothell Fire Department, they would send out completed training and certification packets to the DNR for them to look over and approve. These packets are generally at least 40 pages long, and full of procedures and skills the firefighters have learned.

Joining the Coordinating Group allows the Bothell Fire Department to certify their own wildland firefighters and essentially send off a voucher ticket to the DNR, which will simply print and stamp a red card. Joining is also free for the city, and the fire department is reimbursed by the state for the use of equipment and the hours firefighters spend battling wildland fires.

Bothell Fire Department Lt. Jim Vandertoorn instructs the agency’s wildland firefighters and has held a red card continuously since 1988. He has also served on an elite “Hotshot” crew, which are inserted by helicopter ahead of wildfires to create fire barriers such as trenches and clear vegetation.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is a major improvement,” he said. “The key is that before, we sent (red card paperwork) to the DNR, we’d have to wait months before they could even review them.”

Since wildland firefighters can only be qualified by other firefighters holding the same or a higher rank than the one they are training for, when the fire season begins the same personnel who review the permits are assigned to fires.

Bothell Fire Chief Bob Van Horne said this was a significant change.

“The big benefit is that if we are late in our training, we can still issue the red card,” Van Horne said. “That’s the biggest benefit and that is also the biggest benefit to the state.”

Under the Coordinating Group agreement, Bothell will be allowed to issue red card certifications for the first three ranks of wildland firefighters, which allows members to fight fires, lead a small squad or command a fire engine at each subsequent rank.

Red card training involves learning how weather and geography affects a fire, as well as different types of fuels and how a wildland fire moves. Fire sheltering, escape and lookout tactics are also learned.

When they are deployed, Bothell firefighters join with others from Kirkland, Woodinville, Duvall and other Eastside agencies to form the Zone One Strike Team wielding five engines.

Last year the strike team battled the Chelan and Kettle Complex fires in Eastern Washington, among others.

Coordination between local fire agencies in Washingotn and Oregon states is handled by the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (NWCC), who in turn works with a host of state and federal emergency response agencies.

Vandertoorn said this provides firefighters valuable experience working in a large command structure.

“I’m a huge advocate for the (red card) program because it becomes so important to share resources around the state in case there’s a major disaster,” he said.

That experience will likely be needed in coming years Vandertoorn said, as temperatures during the fire season continue to rise.

According to a report issued by the National Interagency Fire Center last week, the fire danger for Washington state should be low until July, the historical start of the fire season which stretches from July through September.

Rainfall has been high, with Seattle’s record breaking winter precipitation and a healthy snowpack above 4,000 feet. However, warm weather has led to poor snow accumulation below 4,000, the report said, and prescribed burns could begin this month.

But DNR spokesperson Janet Pearce said her agency is hoping for a delayed fire season.

“We’re still going to be prepared for an early fire season, but if we’re lucky, it’ll just be delayed until June, maybe July, when the big ones start popping up,” she said.

The last two years saw a severe drought hit the state, leading to dry conditions early in the year, she said.

While this year is much wetter, there could be a downside as vegetation now growing rapidly due to the wet conditions dries in mid-summer, creating more potential fuel for wildland fires.

This year’s red card training for Bothell firefighters has already wrapped up, but in future years it is likely to help the department respond more efficiently to early fires.

“The fire seasons certainly aren’t getting any lighter,” Vandertoorn said.