SE Oregon identified as 'hotbed' for potential wildfires in 2024

The Upper Applegate Fire burning in Jackson County on June 21, 2024 (ODF)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – With wildfire season underway, Oregon legislators held a briefing with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center on Monday for an outlook on the 2024 season — identifying one region in the state as a “hotbed” for potential fire risk.

During Monday's briefing — attended by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici — the center's Fire Weather Meteorologist Jon Bonk said the wildfire outlook is a mixed bag when it comes to weather.

According to Bonk, aside from Southern Oregon, temperatures on the whole have been cooler in the last three months.

Additionally, officials said drought areas have diminished across most areas in Oregon since Jan. 2. However, they are seeing drought expansion across north-central and northwest Washington as of June 18.

Even though drought levels have improved in some areas, Bonk said Oregon's rain levels are below average going into wildfire season.

“If you look at the Cascade crest eastward…a lot of areas have been below normal (precipitation levels). It hasn't been severely below normal, but any time we go into the season below normal, that just sets the fuels up, especially the fats for more active burning,” Bonk said.

As part of a nationwide wildfire forecast, Southeast Oregon is expected to be a “hotbed” for wildfire potential in August and September.

Bonk explained that in 2023, there were no significant fires in SE Oregon to burn off last year's grass crop, and 2024 saw excessive precipitation in winter that helped create new grass crop – creating more wildfire fuel “to result in rapid fire spread,” Bonk said — noting lightning and strong winds could be a “one-two punch” for fire danger in the area.

Members of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center said three things would help them respond to wildfires: Increasing time off and pay to stay competitive, implementing new satellite-based firefighting technology, and housing — both in general — and specific firefighting barracks in rural Oregon.

During the briefing, the legislators noted that with climate change, wildfires will become more frequent and powerful, as Sen. Wyden explained, “Mother Nature has given us a bit of a boost this time, a little better in terms of rainfall, and snowpack and the like, but Father Time has taught us these fires are bigger, more powerful, and they're not your grandfather’s fires.”