Roslyn, Washington builds firebreak by deliberately burning over 500 acres
Since a near-miss in 2017, Roslyn has used prescribed burns on surrounding private land to create a fuel-free buffer against future wildfires.
The 2017 Jolly Mountain Fire prompted Roslyn, a 950-person mountain community, to rethink wildfire protection. Emergency management coordinator Chris Martin proposed a prescribed burn on his ridge, turning the exercise into a training event for multiple agencies. Since then, the town and partners have ignited over 500 acres of forest, marking the burned zones on a map that now forms a semicircle around Roslyn.
Additional yellow-shaded sections indicate where trees and brush have been mechanically thinned. Officials such as Greg Dillon of the U.S. Forest Service and Mike Norris of the Washington Department of Natural Resources stress that private-land treatments are a critical, often overlooked component of fire risk mitigation. Coordination among fire districts, Upper Kittitas County Fuels, and The Nature Conservancy is required for each burn, which must also navigate strict air-quality regulations and community outreach.
Why it matters
The project shows how targeted burns on private land can reduce wildfire danger for vulnerable western towns.
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