Climate Lab is a Seattle Times initiative that explores the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The project is funded in part by The Bullitt Foundation, CO2 Foundation, Jim and Birte Falconer, Mike and Becky Hughes, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Martin-Fabert Foundation, Craig McKibben and Sarah Merner, University of Washington and Walker Family Foundation, and its fiscal sponsor is the Seattle Foundation.

DESOLATION PEAK — A warm glow of distant flames pulsed in the mid-September night above the western shores of Ross Lake. You almost have to squint to see it.

Jim Henterly raised his black binoculars. Their lenses captured the light of the Perry fire better than the naked eye. He also kept close watch on a “sleeper” fire to the east, which was so small it hadn’

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