SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Thinning forests of fuel, pre-certifying more volunteer firefighters and greater use of drone aircraft were some of the ideas put forward to battle future wildfires in Washington.

The comments came from a round table discussion in Spokane on Wednesday chaired by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers.

This year saw the biggest wildfire season in state history, with more than 1 million acres burned.

The discussion included firefighters, local politicians, private business representatives and Indian tribes.

There was general agreement that spending more money to remove fuel from the state's dry forests would dramatically reduce the costs of fighting future fires.

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