Wildland Fire Crew

The Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) Wildland Fire Crew provides initial attack on fires within the Cedar River and South Fork Tolt Watersheds. The goal is to contain all fires to less than 10 acres in size. The Wildland Fire Crew provides support to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which is ultimately responsible for wildland fire suppression throughout the state and can bring additional firefighting resources if needed.

The Wildland Fire Crew is led by the Watershed Protection Section within the Watershed Management Division of SPU. The crew is trained and certified following National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and Washington State Wildfire Training Standards. The crew members routinely participate in regional and state-wide wildfire responses during declarations of emergencies to assist in public safety and critical resource protection.

History

Since the early 1900's fire protection has been an important part of keeping Seattle's drinking water supply safe.

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) owns and operates two protected Municipal Watersheds that supply drinking water to over 1.6 million people in the greater Seattle area. The two watersheds encompass more than 100-thousand acres of pristine forest from the Puget Sound foothills to the crest of the Cascade Mountains.

SPU protects these watersheds from forest fires because the aftermath can lead to the degradation of surface water supplies through increased turbidity, impacts on aquatic species, reservoir storage reduction, City asset losses (timber resource reduction) and compromised public and private safety.

Contact

Darian Davis
SPU Wildland Fire Crew Boss
CRWB/ENGB/ICT4/STEN/TFLD
Email: darian.davis@seattle.gov