Portland-area counties are rolling out new wildfire evacuation zone maps and pre-defined alert systems designed to improve the speed, coordination, and clarity of evacuations — and to prevent the gridlock that has plagued past Oregon fire emergencies. Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties have begun launching the new tools ahead of the 2026 fire season, with the goal of making evacuation decisions faster and traffic management more predictable when lives are on the line.

Lessons from Past Evacuations

The new mapping initiative is a direct response to evacuation failures observed during major Oregon fire events in recent years, including the chaotic 2020 Labor Day fire siege, when tens of thousands of residents fled simultaneously across multiple counties with little coordination. Smoke-choked highways became gridlocked as people poured onto roads without a clear sense of which routes were safe or which areas were under evacuation orders.

Pre-defined evacuation zones and tiered alert levels are designed to solve this problem by giving residents a clear, consistent framework they can internalize and act on before an emergency occurs — reducing the decision-making burden in the chaotic early hours of a fast-moving wildfire.

How the New System Works

The new maps divide communities into pre-defined geographic zones, each tied to Oregon's three-level evacuation alert system:

  • Level 1 — BE READY: Residents in this zone should prepare to leave. Review go-bags, know your route.
  • Level 2 — BE SET: Be prepared to leave at a moment's notice. Those with mobility limitations, pets, or livestock should consider leaving now.
  • Level 3 — GO NOW: Immediate danger. Leave immediately via the designated route for your zone.

By pre-defining zones and linking them to specific evacuation corridors, emergency managers can issue targeted orders — evacuating the most at-risk zones first — rather than issuing broad countywide orders that flood all roads simultaneously.

Reaching the Public

The maps are publicly accessible through county emergency management websites and the Oregon Office of Emergency Management's Ready.Oregon.gov portal. Residents are encouraged to find their zone number now, before fire season, and to sign up for their county's emergency alert system. Multnomah County uses the Multnomah County Alerts system; Clackamas County uses CodeRED; Washington County uses WENS (Washington Emergency Notification System).

Why This Matters for the 2026 Season

With the Pacific Northwest facing an above-normal fire outlook for summer 2026, and with urban-wildland interface communities on the fringes of Portland increasingly at risk, the timing of the new evacuation framework is critical. The Columbia River Gorge, the Tualatin Mountains, and the communities along the foothills of the Coast Range and Cascades all face meaningful wildfire exposure during hot, dry easterly wind events that can drive fires rapidly toward populated areas.

Emergency managers say the best tool they have is a prepared public — people who know their zone, know their route, and act quickly when orders are issued. Reviewing the new maps now and signing up for alerts costs nothing and could save your life.