Today, we're looking at where Oregon is this wildfire season and where we're going.
By Mary Kyle McCurdy | 3-minute read
Governor Tina Kotek declared that the 2026 wildfire season had started on June 16, earlier than normal. Half of all Oregon counties are in an emergency drought condition. Both these announcements followed an historically dry winter.
We are seeing these conditions play out on the ground across the state. So far in 2026, Oregon has experienced 1600 wildfires (many are lightning strikes that remain small), and almost 2.5 million acres have burned. This readily surpasses the previous record in 2024 of 2 million acres—and this wildfire season is not over. At least 16 large wildfires are still burning, more than any other state in the country.
Thousands of structures have been destroyed, one fire fighter has died, and countless wildlife and livestock have been displaced and possibly lost. Fire fighters from around the country and the world have come to aid Oregon’s fire service, which we will reciprocate when other places experience wildfires. Currently, 13,000 fire fighters and support staff are on the ground fighting active wildfires.
Most of Oregon is projected to be warmer through the fall and at high risk for wildfires into September. This season is not an anomaly; rather it is part of a trend towards hotter summers and winters that are either drier overall or in which an increasing amount of moisture comes in the form of rain, not snow.
This wildfire season is not even over, and the estimated cost of handling the large fires—to both state and federal coffers—is already over $842 million. Oregon will aid communities, ranchers, farmers, and foresters in recovery and rebuilding, and we will need to restore landscapes, watersheds, and infrastructure.
It’s time for Oregon to take more significant steps than we have to date—including funding, regulations, education, training, meaningful incentives, and more to reduce the risk of climate-induced wildfire, mitigate the impacts of wildfire and smoke, and increase community preparedness.
We can do this. Oregonians know what is needed and how to work together to achieve common goals, as we have shown again and again. Steps taken now will be far less expensive than those taken in reaction to an event or in an emergency. Every Oregonian pays for fighting wildfires and recovering from them. We should spend our money wisely. Fire fighters put their lives and health at risk for all of us. We owe it to every Oregonian, and especially to our children and grandchildren, to make what might seem like hard decisions today, and investments, to avoid much harder and more expensive ones in the future. As highlighted in our article, Reducing wildfire risk is an economic development strategy—and necessity,
We can work together to maintain and create thriving and sustainable communities and healthy ecosystems and natural areas. We can also build a prosperous, forward-looking economy based on adapting to and reducing the changing climate that will be attractive to innovative, cutting-edge businesses.
A few straight-forward sensible steps can help protect our homes, communities, natural areas, and watersheds.The land use program holds significant tools to make meaningful progress. This starts with minimizing building new homes in the wildland urban interface (WUI). These are the areas where development meets vegetation, and where fires often start (humans cause most wildfires, unintentionally) and spread to communities through wind-blown embers. As discussed in an earlier article, Oregon has been going in the wrong direction in recent years, by allowing sprawling development patterns into the WUI and homes scattered across areas prone to wildfire. Those decisions cost all of us, in our pocketbooks, to our health, and to Oregon's natural areas.
In addition, all new structures and significant remodels should be built with wildfire-resilient materials, at least in wildfire-prone areas of the state but probably everywhere, since the area at risk for wildfire is growing with each season. The cost of doing this is about equal to using non-fire resistant building materials. Defensible space must be implemented around homes and critical institutions. New subdivisions should be built to wildfire-smart design (more than one way in and out, fire hydrants in readily accessible areas, roads built to standards that can accommodate fire trucks). We should retrofit these steps into existing development patterns where possible. Oregon should aid those who do not have the financial or physical means to take these steps.
That’s smart, up-front investment for long-term payback for all of us, and future generations.
Wildfire Wednesday is a weekly storytelling project that aims to increase wildfire resilience across Oregon.