Wildfires in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in 2018 include the

Boxcar Fire The Boxcar Fire was a wildfire one mile southeast of Maupin, Oregon in the United States. The fire started on June 21, 2018 due to a lightning strike and subsequently burned due to dry, windy conditions in Central Oregon. The fire was one of 70 ...

Graham Fire The Graham Fire was a wildfire four miles south of the Metolius River near Culver, Oregon. The fire was caused by a lightning strike and was first reported on June 21, 2018. The fire is one of 70 started over a two-day period of dry conditions ...

, and

Jack Knife Fire The Jack Knife Fire was a wildfire five miles north of Kent, Oregon in the United States. The fire was started by lightning on June 20, 2018, around 3:00 pm, just west of the John Day River. The fire burned . Events The Jack Knife fire was sta ...

. In July, one person was killed by the

Substation Fire The Substation Fire was a wildfire in the U.S. state of Oregon near The Dalles. The fire was first reported on July 17, 2018, and had burned . Incidents The Substation Fire was reported, burning on private land, in the late afternoon on July ...

, which also destroyed the Charles E. Nelson House.

Background

"Fire season" in Oregon typically begins in mid-May and ends with the first rains that normally begins in late September.

Drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

snowpack Snowpack is an accumulation of snow that compresses with time and melts seasonally, often at high elevation or high latitude. Snowpacks are an important water resource that feed streams and rivers as they melt, sometimes leading to flooding. Snow ...

levels, and local weather conditions play a role in Oregon's fire season, particularly in

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and Southwest Oregon. During peak fire season from July to September, most wildfires are caused by

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

, while ignitions in the early and later parts of the season are related to humans. Warm, dry conditions in summer heighten the wildfire risk. After over 100 years of fire suppression and prevention of all fires, there is now an abundance of fuel.

Climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

is leading to a reduced snowpack with an earlier and reduced

snowmelt In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many part ...

, so there is a higher risk for areas that receive wildfires.

Wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres, or produced significant structural damage or loss of life.

References

{{Oregon wildfires Wildfires in Oregon by year