Summer vacation likely will be an oxymoron for area firefighters.

Forecasts place Washington state at the epicenter of regional wildfires from July to September.

“The outlook for Washington state is not all that great,” Skagit County Fire District 13 Assistant Chief Jamie Jurdi conceded last Thursday. “Washington is in the red throughout the whole wildfire season. Not just eastern Washington, but also western Washington.”

Fire District 13, serving Swinomish Reservation and the rural La Conner area, regularly mobilizes personnel and equipment to summer hotspots along the Pacific C...