OLYMPIA — Large wildfires in Washington and Oregon may take 25% longer to put out this summer as fire camps adopt time-consuming precautions to prevent firefighters from catching COVID-19, according to Northwest fire officials.

Routine tasks, such as serving meals or briefing crews, will take longer because of physical distancing, possibly reducing the time firefighters spend battling blazes. Firefighters will be screened daily for COVID symptoms. The sick will be isolated and the exposed quarantined.

“A little bit here and a little bit there and it adds up over the course of an incident,” said Chuck Turley, the Washington Department of Natural Resources wildfire division manager and chairman of the Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group.

The coordinating group has developed recommendations for preventing the spread of COVID-19. The recommendations, written for state and federal incident commanders in the two states, have yet to be tested by a multi-day fire that requires firefighters to stay in a camp.

The 94-page report warns that some firefighters will consider the pandemic a catastrophe, while others will think the response to it is overblown. Fire commanders will need to consistently support standardized safety measures, according to the recommendations.

Precautions aren’t expected to affect work on fire lines, but the configuration of camps, the availability of support workers and other logistical details will be, according to the report. More vehicles may be required to ensure firefighters aren’t sitting too close together.

“With physical distancing requirements, providing food, water, supplies, shower services, laundry services, trash collection, communication, medical, transportation, office space, power, sanitation and security to multiple sites will be complex.”

The report warns commanders to “expect an overall increase (in the) amount of time and resources necessary to meet expectations” — potentially up to 25%.

At a press conference Thursday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called attention to the expectation that fires will take longer to suppress. He said people should be vigilant about fire prevention.

“In a sense, it’s kind of like COVID-19. There are things we can do to protect ourselves,” he said. “If we’re ever going to be careful, this is a great year to be careful.”

Turley said the projection that fires will take 25% longer to put out was a “very rough estimate.” Working under unprecedented circumstances, commanders will have to adapt and make on-the-ground decisions as the fire season unfolds, he said.

“It’s been widely recognized firefighting is going to be much more complicated because of the whole COVID situation,” he said. “It’s not something we have a checklist for.”

The coordinating group also warns to expect fires to cost more to suppress.

More firefighters may have to be put up in hotels to keep camps from being overcrowded. Schools, fairgrounds and other places may have to be used as well. Instead of mobile kitchens ladling food, restaurants may deliver box meals.

In some camps, firefighters may be required to wear masks and other personal protection. “That’s an additional expense no one foresaw,” Turley said.

He said the Northwest could be strapped if faced with a large fire that outstrips the region’s supply of firefighters and equipment. Fire agencies in other states may be reluctant to assign their firefighters to a blaze far from home during a pandemic, he said.

Also, some firefighters may stay on the sidelines because they are more vulnerable to COVID-19, Turley said. “People need to take a close look at their personal situation,” he said. “We have an aging workforce in the wildfire community.”