The 2021 the wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest experienced an early start due to an abnormally dry spring coupled with low snowpack levels amid an ongoing drought.

In particular, Oregon has been experiencing increasingly large fire seasons over the last few decades, with the preceding 2020 wildfire season being one of the most destructive in the state's history. As with much of the rest of the Western United States, fire officials were predicting another above-average season in 2021 due to expected low precipitation and high temperatures.

The 2021 wildfire fire season came to a close in Oregon and Washington with 1,503,027 acres affected by fire. These numbers were not as staggering like in 2020 when 1,983,971 million acres burned. Highlights from the 2021 wildland fire season included:

• Approximately 1,503,027 reported acres were affected by wildfire in the Northwest (NW):
o 828,778 acres in Oregon and 674,249 acres in Washington.

• There was a total of 4,075 reported fires in the NW Geographic Area:
o 2,203 in Oregon: human-caused 1,435 (65%), lightning-caused 768 (35%)
o 1,872 in Washington: human-caused 1,640 (88%), lightning-caused 232 (12%)

• There were 85 fires meeting large fire** criteria: 41 in Oregon and 44 in Washington.

• The NW Geographic Area was at Preparedness Levels 4 and 5 for a total of 76 days (PL 4 for 11 days and PL 5 for 65 days).

• Incident Management Teams from the NW [Type 1 (10), Type 2 (33), ODF (7), OSFM (9)] were mobilized 59 times. The NW hosted 25 [Type 1(11), Type 2 (14)] teams from outside the GACC. One Area Command Team was also assigned to the NW. Total days assigned for all teams: 1,243.

• A total of 22,346 lightning strikes were recorded. The largest number of strikes occurring in one day was 2,147 recorded on August 3.

• In Oregon, the largest fire/complex was the Bootleg for a total of 413,717 acres.

• The largest fire/complex in Washington was the Schneider Springs at 107,118 acres.

• During peak fire activity, over 8,600 firefighters and support personnel were actively working on NW fires.

*OR & WA individual counts may not equal NW total. NW dispatch offices report for small portions of neighboring states.
**To be considered a “large fire”, a wildfire must be at least 100 acres in timber or 300 acres in grass or brush.
***not all costs have been reported.

Always check in with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center for updates and be sure to visit these sites for the most up-to-date wildland fire information.
🔥NWCC Blog: [ Ссылка ]
🔥NWCC Website: [ Ссылка ]
🔥Large Fires in the Northwest: [ Ссылка ]
🔥Northwest Fire Map: [ Ссылка ]

Video: Michael Campbell, BLM
Motion Graphics: Matt Christenson, BLM
Narration: Carol Connolly, NWCC

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