WA wildfire update for Friday, Sept. 4

Thank you for that, Sean. Officials have until next Wednesday to file charges against the 18 year old from Kent accused of starting the deadly Chelan Hills fire. He allegedly did this with illegal fireworks on July 4th. That fire burned more than 10,000 acres, destroyed 19 homes, damaged dozens others, and the fire also claimed the life of this man, 69 year old Robert Lister, who died trying to escape the flames in his car. The sheriff's office says his dogs died with him and the remains of his wife, who died a month earlier, were also lost. Yesterday, Lister's stepdaughter spoke on behalf of the family. It's not fair that we lost a life over some fun. It's just not fair. Kids will do stupid things, but sometimes you gotta think before you react and do crazy things like that, knowing that we're in a fire danger. In a press conference yesterday, Douglas County Sheriff Tyler Kale announced officials are seeking to arrest five others believed to have been involved. The sheriff's office identified one of the suspects as 18 year old Michael Yakimov. Deputies traveled to Kent to arrest this suspect earlier this week, and six firefighters were also injured while fighting the fire. The Herculean efforts of our responders that day is insurmountable. It's unspeakable to think about what our volunteer responders did that day to try to get people out of there safely. The sheriff's office says they know who the five other suspects are, and they are working to find them. Now some of Yakimov's family and friends are speaking out, saying they don't believe he's the one who actually started the fire. His mom and brother spoke to Fox 13. His mom allowed us to interview his brother with her permission. I don't believe that he did it. I would tell him to be strong and that he's going to get out soon because he's not the one who did it. Yakimov being held right now on one million dollars bond. Flames burning through Washington land have been well a common sight unfortunately this summer, and we have seen three giant wildfires this season burning a total of 475,000 acres just on their own. And I'm talking about the Little Giant Fire, Sinlahikon, and Kaiser Canyon fires as well. All of these rank within the top 10 biggest wildfires in the state over the last 50 years. Now we've also seen dozens of other wildfires and brush fires as well this year. So how does this fire season compare to past ones? We brought that question to Tim Samson, the Washington Department of Natural Resources. 2026 has been one of the most challenging fire season Washington state has seen in at least a decade. Just for Washington DNR, it's the most acres burned in 10 years. The good news, we're finally seeing some favorable weather moving in this week. This year we know we're 883,000 acres across the state. 2025 we were at 247,000 acres burned so we've we've already tripled that. The Department of Natural Resources says during this last month of wildfire season they are counting on the rain to help crews along and prevent any new fires from starting.