Despite a dip in the number of wildfires in Oregon and Washington this year, the fires burned more acreage than any other region in the country.
During one week in late July, the two states had 12,000 firefighters and support crew members on the ground, said Carol Connolly, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland.
“It was a challenging, complex year,” Connolly said Wednesday. “Juggling all the moving parts of crews and equipment made the year stand out — and it will stand out for years.”
The Pacific Northwest set a record of 43 days as the nation’s No. 1 priority for resources across the country, she said.
The total cost so far to fight the fires is $446 million — compared to $235 million last year, according to the coordination center, which assigns firefighters and resources to wildfires in Oregon and Washington.
Extended drought conditions in Oregon and lightning and wind made the Pacific Northwest and California ripe for fires this year, said Mike Ferris, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.
Oregon and Washington logged 3,270 fires that scorched 1,284,013 acres on federal, state and private lands, according to the latest figures from the National Interagency Fire Center.
Although that’s fewer than the 10-year average of 3,877 fires in both states, the acres burned was nearly triple the 10-year average of 452,039 acres.
The biggest fires were Washington’s 256,108-acre Carlton Complex, that state’s largest-ever blaze, and the 395,747-acre Buzzard Complex in southeastern Oregon.
