MOSES LAKE — The fire season is starting to come to an end in Washington, according to Department of Natural Resources Communications Manager Ryan Rodruck.

“We’re certainly winding down the season,” Rodruck said. “I would say that for western Washington, we have seen that season-ending precipitation at this point. I would not expect any large, costly fires to materialize in western Washington at this point.”

However, eastern and central Washington are still waiting for season-ending precipitation, which will likely not happen this week, Rodruck said.

“We’re still going to continue to see some dry conditions on the land,” Rodruck said. “Through this week, temperatures are moderating which is a good thing, but what we’re not seeing with that moderation and temperature is any kind of significant precipitation. Until we see that season-ending precipitation event move through eastern Washington, there will still be initial attack activity.”

Rodruck said the state is still working on the larger fires such as the Lower Sugarloaf Fire and Labor Mountain Fire. Blewett Pass, near the Labor Mountain Fire, remained closed Monday because of fire activity, according to a statement from InciWeb. Blewett Pass has been closed due to the fire since Sept. 21, said Sebastian Moraga, communications specialist for the Washington Department of Transportation.

However, the rest of the large, costly fires in the state are in mop up and rehabilitation.

DNR will not get final acreage counts until around January 2026, Rodruck said.

As of Monday’s updated counts there have been about 1,800 ignitions which have burned around 245,000 acres, Rodruck said. However, these counts don’t include active blazes that are still growing, such as the Lower Sugarloaf Fire, Rodruck said. Crews are continuing to work on containing these larger fires; however, teams are waiting for significant precipitation to help knock them out.

“Crews are making really excellent progress on those fires, especially since that wind event hit them that contributed to their significant growth,” Rodruck said. “Crews are doing really, really well on that fire, especially the Lower Sugarloaf, they’re making just really substantial progress on that, and that goes for Labor Mountain as well. We don’t have a firm mop-up date, but there are still incident management teams assigned to both those fires and a significant amount of resources.”

This year’s fire season is below the 10-year average for acreage, which is nearly 467,000 acres. However, the state is up on the number of ignitions with an average of about 1,600.

Rodruck said DNR anticipated a worse fire season this year.

“While we are expected to be below that 10-year average, as far as ignitions go and as far as total acres burned, it’s our expectation that we will be above last year’s numbers,” Rodruck said. “That being said, we’ve successfully kept about 95% of the fires in our jurisdiction to 10 acres or less.”

In comparison to 2024, there were around 276,000 acres burned from about 1,800 fires. Rodruck said he expects the acreage this year to surpass last year’s after final counts are conducted.

“We’re going to have more emissions than last year,” Rodruck said. “It is likely that we will burn more acreage than we burned last year. We’re still under the 10-year average.”

Grant and Adams counties have both ended burn bans as of Oct. 1. Nonetheless, Rodruck wants to remind people to still be careful burning, especially in central and eastern Washington, where it is still dry and warm.

“As those burn bans start to lift, just be aware that just because the ban is lifted does not mean that there aren’t still requirements and restrictions in place,” Rodruck said. “If you are conducting a burn make sure you’re doing it within the existing framework of rules that exist on the landscape. We will start to see some of those burn bans come off, but just be responsible. Do your due diligence, make sure that you’re burning within the rules and the framework that still exists, and just do so in the safest manner possible.”

These fires were causing air quality concerns regionally. As the Columbia Basin goes into the work week.

To look at the current air quality in the area, visit AirNow.gov.

Three largest fires:

Lower Sugarloaf Fire: 41,114 39,594 acres. 55% contained. Chelan County. Started Sept. 1. Lightning-caused.

Labor Mountain Fire: 39,324 37,239 acres. 7% contained. Kittitas County. Started Sept. 1. Lightning-caused.

Bear Gulch Fire: 20,185 acres. 5% contained. Mason County. Started July 6. Human-caused.

Other fires:

Martin Fire: 388 acres. 67% contained. Chelan County. Started Aug. 27. Under investigation.

Perry Fire: 1,772 acres. 61% contained. Whatcom County. Started Aug. 27. Under investigation.

Pomas Fire: 3,618 acres. 64% contained. Chelan County. Started June 13. Lightning-caused.

Snow Peak Fire: 1,147 acres. No containment. Stevens County. Started Sept. 1. Lightning caused.

Tunnel Creek Fire: 581 acres. No containment. Jefferson County. Started Sept. 6. Unknown cause.

Wildcat Fire: 15,314 acres. 5% contained. Yakima County. Started Aug. 25. Under investigation.

Air quality:

Air quality labels are decided by the air quality index number. The Columbia Basin is starting to see an improvement in air quality with most areas having good, moderate, or unhealthy for sensitive groups air quality.

Ephrata – Monday: unhealthy for sensitive groups. Tuesday: moderate. Wednesday: moderate. Thursday: moderate. Friday: moderate.

Moses Lake – Monday: good. Tuesday: good. Wednesday: good. Thursday: good. Friday: moderate.

Othello – Monday: good. Tuesday: good. Wednesday: good. Thursday: good. Friday: moderate.

Quincy – Monday: unhealthy for sensitive groups. Tuesday: moderate. Wednesday: moderate. Thursday: moderate. Friday: moderate.

Ritzville – Monday: good. Tuesday: good. Wednesday: good. Thursday: good. Friday: good.

    Western Washington has gotten its fire season ending precipitation. However, central and eastern Washington are still waiting for a large rainfall to end its fire season, according to Department of Natural Resources Communications Manager Ryan Rodruck.