Controlled burns near Spokane aim to reduce fire risk this fall season [Video]

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Washington Department of Lands will begin controlled burns as the fall season arrives to help reduce and control fire risk.

The WDOL has planned to burn 400 acres of land in the fall season starting with the Rustlers Gulch Unit near Sherman Creek Wildlife Area.

Rustlers Gulch Unit will have 250 acres burned near Horeshoe Lake. It is located about 30 miles north of Spokane and 18 miles southwest of Newport in Pend Oreille County.

The second location the WDOL has planned to burn is the Sherman Creek Wildlife Area about 10 miles west of Colville. The area is directly along Roosevelt Lake, and they will burn around 140 acres there.

The prescribed fires are conducted during the colder seasons making it safer and easier to manage.

“We can create and maintain wildlife habitat on these valuable ecosystems through introducing periodic low to moderate intensity fires, …