BLM and Wildland Fire Service Launch Fall Prescribed Burn Season Across Oregon and Washington

With the Pacific Northwest’s 2026 wildfire season beginning to wind down, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Wildland Fire Service announced this month that they will begin prescribed burning operations throughout Oregon and Washington. The fall Rx burn season is a critical component of long-term landscape health and wildfire risk reduction — and this year, given the unprecedented scale of fire damage across the region, the urgency to treat remaining fuels is higher than ever.

Why Fall Is Prime Time for Prescribed Fire

Fall presents some of the best conditions of the year for prescribed fire on many Pacific Northwest landscapes. Cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity reduce the risk of fire escaping prescription parameters. Fuels — particularly grasses and shrubs — remain dry enough to carry fire effectively, while the approaching fall rain season provides a natural backstop. Atmospheric mixing in fall also helps disperse smoke more readily than summer’s stagnant air masses, reducing air quality impacts on nearby communities.

“All prescribed burns are carefully planned and only carried out when weather, fuel conditions, and air quality are within safe parameters,” BLM’s Oregon-Washington state office noted in its launch announcement.

Active Prescribed Burns in Oregon

Several prescribed fires are currently active or recently completed on Oregon national forests, per InciWeb:

SUMAC 2A (Wallowa-Whitman area) — 417 acres, updated October 14, 2026.
Trail 618 and 619 (Wallowa-Whitman NF area) — 303 acres, active within the past week.
Bird Track 610 & 607A — 211 acres, active within the past week.
Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Prescribed Fire Operations — Ongoing operations across southwestern Oregon, with acreage to be updated as burns are conducted.

The Wallowa-Whitman burns in northeast Oregon reflect the Forest Service’s sustained commitment to treating mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine landscapes that carry heavy fuel loads from decades of fire suppression. The Rogue River-Siskiyou operations target fire-prone landscapes in southwestern Oregon that have seen significant wildfire activity in past seasons.

Idaho Prescribed Burning

In Idaho, the Yale Creek RX burn is active in the Clearwater National Forest area, continuing the agency’s fall Rx program in the northern Rockies. Additional prescribed fire operations are expected in Idaho as conditions permit through October and November.

Nationwide Prescribed Burn Activity

Oregon and Washington are part of a broader national push to utilize the fall window for fuels treatment. Other notable Rx projects active or recently completed:

Kaibab National Forest (Arizona) — Three ranger districts — Tusayan, Williams, and North Kaibab — are all conducting fall prescribed burns, updated October 15.
GMUG National Forests (Colorado) — Multiple burns underway, including the Salt Cabin Prescribed Fire at 4,567 acres.
Coconino National Forest (Arizona) — Fall prescribed burn projects active.
Allegheny National Forest (Pennsylvania) — Fall 2026 Rx fire plan, 38 acres treated.
Lolo National Forest (Montana) — Prescribed fire operations ongoing.

The Bigger Picture

After a season that burned more than 9 million acres nationally — 143% of the 10-year average — land managers are under intense pressure to accelerate fuels treatment during every available weather window. Research consistently shows that landscapes treated with prescribed fire are more resilient when wildfires arrive, with lower fire intensity and reduced threat to life and property.