Record fires have burned 1.4 million acres in Oregon, authorities say

Oregon fires have burned more hectares of land in 2024 than in any year since reliable records began, authorities said, with the peak of the fire season in mid-August still on the horizon.

The fires have burned more than 1.4 million acres, or nearly 2,200 square miles, Northwest Interagency Coordination Center spokeswoman Carol Connolly said. That’s more than any other year since 1992, when reliable records began to be kept, she said, and surpasses the previous record set in 2020.

Connolly said 71 large fires have burned the vast majority of land this year. Large fires are defined as those that consume more than 100 acres of timber or more than 300 acres of grass or brush.

Thirty-two homes in the state were lost to the fires, she said, which were fueled by high temperatures, dry weather and low humidity.

Some of the wildfires in Oregon’s most recent record year, 2020, were among the worst natural disasters in the state’s history. The fires over the Labor Day weekend killed nine people, burned more than 1,875 square miles and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures.

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