Oregon is currently home to the four largest active wildfires in the United States, with the fifth largest burning in Washington, as fire activity remains elevated across the Northwest and much of the West.
About 11,619 personnel are assigned to the 30 large fires across the state. The number of crews and the number of fires has decreased since earlier this week, likely due to many wildfires in the state becoming contained. The number of personnel does not include many local and agency government employees, landowners, forestland operators and other community members contributing daily.
Around 1.7 million acres have burned in Oregon this year as of July 29, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. Year-to-date, there have been 1,329 fires.
Fire managers are asking people statewide to help prevent new starts during extreme conditions by checking local restrictions, avoiding activities that could cause a spark, staying clear of firefighting operations and following local evacuation and emergency alerts.
Dozens of firefighting teams mobilized statewide and additional support arrived from neighboring states.
The Oregon State Fire Marshal said that as of Wednesday, 39 teams were mobilized across Oregon, including 33 task forces and six strike teams.
In addition to the in-state deployments, the Oregon State Fire Marshal said 12 out-of-state teams from California and Washington were supporting Oregon through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, known as EMAC.
The agency also reported having two teams pre-positioned at one location.
Forecast
In a morning update on Wednesday, July 29, the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center said recent conditions included temperatures in the 80s, with some 90s on the eastside and cooler conditions along the coast. Relative humidity was in the single digits in southeast Oregon. Northwest Washington saw light precipitation, and no lightning occurred. Initial attack was described as light, with the largest fire reaching eight acres in eastern Washington.
Looking ahead, the center said a persistent pattern will keep the Northwest between Great Basin high pressure and low pressure near British Columbia through Friday, with marine air continuing to move onshore west of the Cascades. Eastern areas are expected to see daily dry, breezy conditions with continued low humidity, especially across southeast Oregon. The center said there will be a slight chance of mainly dry thunderstorms across central and northeast Oregon on Wednesday and Thursday.
A dry cold front on Saturday is expected to produce strong and gusty winds, leading to widespread fire weather concerns, especially in eastern Washington, according to the center. It also said increasing instability is expected Monday as a high pressure ridge and associated surface thermal trough develop across southwest Oregon, while overnight humidity recovery east of the Cascades will remain limited over the next several days.
The center said the next few days will bring moderately high fire potential to southwest Oregon and most eastside areas. It said very dry fuels will ignite easily and support active fire behavior, even under lighter winds. Early next week, concerns are expected to shift to southwest Oregon, where hot, dry, unstable conditions could sharply increase fire behavior on any new or existing fires.
The National Interagency Fire Center said 26,036 firefighters and support personnel are engaged in nationwide fire activity, including 582 crews, 1,501 engines and 168 helicopters. The agency said that so far this year, 43,145 fires have burned more than 4.5 million acres across the United States, exceeding the 10-year average for both the number of fires and acres burned.
More than 2.6 million acres are actively burning due to 84 large fires throughout the country as of Wednesday, and six fires have been contained this year nationwide.
The center said fire activity remains elevated in the Northwest region, which is at Preparedness Level 5 with 45 uncontained large fires and 18 Complex Incident Management Teams assigned in Oregon and Washington. It also said one 15-member incident management team and 59 fireline management personnel from Australia and New Zealand are assigned to support large fires in the Northwest, and that four MAFFS aircraft and their support personnel continue to operate out of Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Redding, California.
Central Oregon
In Central Oregon, fires are impacting roadways, and drivers are advised to check the Oregon Department of Transportation’s tripcheck.com for current road statuses. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service have several closures in place for public safety during ongoing wildfire incidents, including on the Deschutes National Forest and the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland.
Fire officials also warned that personal drones can interfere with firefighting aircraft and operations.
Air resource advisors are producing daily smoke forecasts available at fire.airnow.gov.
Wildfire updates for Central Oregon are available at centraloregonfire.org and on X at @CentralORfire. Officials urged people to call 911 to report a wildfire.
So far this year, 42,651 fires have burned more than 4.5 million acres across the United States.
In Oregon, wildfires have burned 1,524,292 acres. No new large fires were reported, and two fires were contained.
Resources
Oregon State Fire Marshal Facebook page: facebook.com/OregonStateFireMarshal
Oregon Department of Forestry: facebook.com/oregondepartmentofforestry
Evacuations
Oregon Department of Emergency Management asks households with at least one person who needs extra time to evacuate to consider leaving one evacuation level earlier. Doing so can help households avoid traffic, reduce stress, and get to safety before conditions change and become riskier.
Those with at least one of the following in their households may consider leaving earlier:
- Someone who relies on medical equipment or oxygen
- Young children
- Pets
- Livestock
- Someone with mobility or access and functional needs
Evacuation map: protect.genasys.com/en?lat=44.2177&lng=-120.2108&z=7.1
Wheeler and Crook Counties evacuation map: arcg.is/1byHLb6
Jefferson County evacuation map: fr911orgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=e1000ff48be84d6ba23431f303d2c247
Wasco County evacuations map: perimetermap.com/wascocounty-or
Closures
Oregon-Washington Bureau of Land Management fire closures and restrictions: blm.gov/programs/fire/regional-info/oregon-washington/fire-restrictions
Air quality
Daily smoke forecasts can be found on fire.airnow.gov.
