Oregon wildfires are shattering records this year

Oregon wildfires have burned a record-breaking 1.9 million acres this year — the most acres ever damaged in modern state history.

While much of the Willamette Valley and the Portland metropolitan area have been spared the brunt of the impact, major conflagrations have ripped across eastern and central Oregon throughout this year’s fire season, which typically heats up in June and peters out by October.

“It started early, and it’s kept a steady pace since then,” Oregon Department of Forestry spokesperson Jessica Neujahr said Monday. “Hopefully we’re at a turning point in the season — the beginning of the end.”

The cause of the epic burn boils down to scorching heat that began in July, when a heat wave combined with dry fuels and thunderstorms that unleashed lightning strikes like buckshot to spark several major conflagrations, according to Neujahr.

Foresters recorded more than 4,000 lightning strikes just in July, she said.

Soon, hundreds of firefighters were battling blazes from the 183,000-acre Battle Mountain Complex west of La Grande to the Durkee and Cow Valley fires near Ontario, which burned a combined 427,000 acres.

Those fires primarily spread through arid rangelands, where even relatively mild 10 mph winds can put fast-moving flames into motion. These blazes are now all contained.

Firefighters saw a pause in early August, when a much needed reprieve set in for about two weeks, Neujahr said.

But Mother Nature didn’t settle down for long. By Labor Day, lightning strikes continued to start fires, including the 4,000-acre Copperfield fire north of Klamath Falls, the 26,000-acre Shoe Fly fire near Monmouth and the 25,000-acre Fossil Complex, which is less than a third contained and continues to threaten the tiny Wheeler County town of Spray, Oregon.

Closer to the center of the state, the Crazy Creek, Fall, and Rail Ridge wildfires east of Bend have ravaged some 399,000 acres. Two of those fires are contained, but the Rail Ridge is only about 40% roped off.

The last time Oregon topped 1 million acres burned was 2020, and the highest total amount of acreage consumed before 2024 was 2012, when 1.2 million acres went up in smoke. On average, 620,000 acres burned each year this decade, according to Oregon Department of Forestry data.

That said, reliable fire acreage numbers only go back to the early 1990s.

Firefighters are hopeful that the return of light rain across the state will herald an end to their work, though fuels remain dry in many areas.

Neujahr notes that Oregon’s fire season would have been significantly less severe if everyone followed the good word of Smokey the Bear.

Statewide, more than 1,500 fires this year appear to be human-caused — and all combined, those fires accounted for more than 1.1 million acres of fire-ravaged land. Almost all of those human-sparked fires began because of burning debris, use of gas-powered engines such as lawnmowers and ATVs, and unattended or poorly-extinguished campfires, Neujahr said.

“A lot of times what we hear from people is, ‘Well, I’ve burned debris for the last 10 years, and nothing’s ever happened,’” said Neujahr. “But, the climate is changing. We can’t live by the status quo.”

—Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, [email protected] or @pdxzane.

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.