With the 2026 wildfire season officially underway across Oregon and the broader Pacific Northwest, fire managers are watching a combination of below-average winter snowpack, early-season heat, and rapidly drying fuels with growing concern. The numbers through mid-June already put this year on track to be among the more active fire seasons in recent memory.

A Season That Started Early

Oregon's fire season is beginning on its standard date of June 15, but conditions have been fire-season-like for weeks in parts of the state. Southern Oregon — Jackson and Josephine counties — entered fire restrictions in May, an early trigger driven by below-average precipitation and above-normal temperatures through spring.

In the Columbia Basin and eastern Oregon, fine fuels (dry grasses) are already fully cured, a condition that typically doesn't arrive until mid-to-late July in a normal year. The Highway 730/Twin Sisters Fire, which exploded to 3,600+ acres overnight in the Wallula Gap area, is an early demonstration of how dangerous those cured-grass conditions can be.

National Numbers Tell the Story

Nationally, 32,373 fires have burned 2.5 million acres through June 12, 2026 — figures that are 37% above the 10-year average for fire starts and 76% above average for acreage. By this date in 2023, just 633,501 acres had burned nationwide. The scale of early-season burning in 2026 reflects both the dry winter across much of the West and an exceptionally early onset of summer heat.

What Fire Managers Are Watching

Heading into summer, fire managers are monitoring several key indicators in the Pacific Northwest:

  • Snowpack: Below-average snowpack across portions of the Oregon and Washington Cascades and the northern Rockies means rivers and soil moisture will be depleted earlier than normal, drying surface fuels ahead of schedule.
  • Lightning activity: A dry thunderstorm pattern developing over the interior West is the primary driver of mass ignition events historically. Fire managers are watching for periods of high lightning activity paired with low humidity — the recipe for dozens of simultaneous fire starts.
  • Wind events: East winds in Oregon (the Willamette Valley) and the Gorge, along with dry offshore flow patterns in Washington, can push fires rapidly toward populated areas with little warning.
  • Drought: Much of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Idaho is in moderate-to-severe drought heading into summer, meaning live fuels will cure faster and burn more intensely.

Resource Availability

The National Interagency Fire Center has 2,559 personnel currently assigned to active incidents nationally, with the preparedness level at Preparedness Level 2. As the season ramps up, competition for limited firefighting resources — including Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams, air tankers, and hotshot crews — will intensify. Pacific Northwest communities and land managers are urged to take steps now to reduce risk before those resources are stretched thin.

What You Can Do Before Fire Arrives

  • Create 30 feet of defensible space around your home — remove dry grass, wood piles, and other flammable material from the immediate zone.
  • Screen all exterior vents and openings with 1/8-inch metal mesh to block ember intrusion.
  • Clean gutters and roof of accumulated debris, which can catch embers.
  • Know your evacuation level and route before a fire starts — visiting ReadyForWildfire.org is a good starting point.
  • Sign up for your county's emergency alert system.