The scars from Washington's 2025 wildfire season are still visible across the Olympic Peninsula, the Cascades, and central Washington. Now, forecasters are warning residents that 2026 could be worse.

The Bear Gulch Fire, sparked by human activity on July 6, 2025, near Lake Cushman in Olympic National Forest, became the largest wildfire in Olympic National Park since the park was established in 1938, ultimately burning more than 20,000 acres. The fire forced mass evacuations in the Lake Cushman area, closed most of the FS-24 road system, shuttered popular trailheads including Upper and Lower Mt. Ellinor, and triggered campfire bans across Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park. Between September 14 and September 20 alone, the fire nearly doubled in size, jumping from roughly 10,800 acres to more than 19,000 acres.

Bear Gulch was far from alone. The Labor Mountain Fire in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest grew to more than 42,000 acres, while the Wildcat Fire in the William O'Douglas Wilderness in Yakima County reached over 15,500 acres. In early September, fourteen fires burned simultaneously across Western and Eastern Washington, producing a "smokestorm" that sent air quality readings north and east of Seattle to extraordinarily unhealthy levels, with the highest particulate levels ever recorded in Lake Forest Park. Blewett Pass closed in September due to the Labor Mountain Fire and did not reopen until October.
Now forecasters are raising alarms for the coming months. Washington is entering the 2026 wildfire season with warning signs already in place. State and federal forecasts point to elevated risk of significant fire activity, especially across Central and Eastern Washington, by early summer. The driver is a troubling combination of conditions: the Washington State Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency in April, citing snowpack levels at roughly 50% of normal, with much of the winter's precipitation falling as rain rather than snow.

Washington has declared a statewide drought emergency for the fourth consecutive year, with snowpack running well below normal in many areas. Analysts warn that reduced snowpack means fuels will dry out faster and fire season will arrive sooner.

For communities across the South Sound and Olympic Peninsula, the message is the same: prepare early. Fire season in Washington is no longer a summer event. It starts in spring and ends when the rain says so.