Wildfire

How Does This Year's Wildfire Season In The Pacific Northwest Compare To 2020?

KLCC | By Brian Bull

Published September 14, 2021 at 8:25 AM PDT

A July 27, 2021 photo of the Bootleg Fire. For several weeks, it was the country's largest wildfire this year.

This year’s wildfire season for Oregon and Washington began early and will run long. But so far, it’s not as bad as 2020’s.

Data from the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center shows as of today (9/13), 1,451,367 acres have burned across the two states. That’s nearly one-quarter fewer acres than the same date last year.

Ed Hiatt, Interagency Fire Staff Officer for Northwest Oregon, at Olallie Campground along the banks of the McKenzie River. Burned terrain from the Knoll Fire can be viewed on the opposite bank. — Ed Hiatt, Interagency Fire Staff Officer for Northwest Oregon.

“It has been very busy this year, we were expecting it due to the environmental conditions across the region," said Ed Hiatt, Interagency Fire Staff Officer for Northwest Oregon.

"The Northwest has been dry. We haven’t had a lot of lightning, but the fuels have been very receptive to lightning starts. And they cause us a lot of problems.”

Besides the destruction of communities like Blue River, Talent, and Phoenix, many parts of Oregon were shrouded in heavy smog last year.

Data also shows fire crews tackling 15 large fires in Oregon and Washington, compared to nearly twice that number in 2020. In an email to KLCC, Carol Connolly of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center says on this day in 2020, there were 8,522 firefighters and support personnel working 28 active large fires in Oregon and Washington (6,071 in OR & 2,451 in WA).

"Currently we have 6,219 firefighters and support personnel on 15 active large fires. 3,996 in Oregon and 2,223 in Washington."