U.S. wildfire season exceeds 10-year average

Rebecca Falconer

Night scene of a wildfire: glowing flames among trees, a firefighter in protective gear stands in the foreground near a utility pole, illuminated red-orange. — A firefighter with the Sonoma County Fire District patrols the fire perimeter during the Feliz Fire near Hopland, California, on Saturday. Photo: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Wildfires in Washington and Oregon have forced evacuations, caused power outages and burned hundreds of thousands of acres as firefighters battle dozens of massive fires across the Pacific Northwest.

Why it matters: The blazes are among 99 active large fires burning across the U.S. as this year's wildfire season exceeds the 10-year average for both the number of fires and acres burned, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

So far this year, 45,835 fires have burned more than 5.2 million acres across the U.S., the NIFC says.

State of play: Washington has 17 active large fires. In the Spokane area, three major blazes — known collectively as the Spokane Complex Fire — have forced some 60,000 people to evacuate, knocked out power to thousands more and destroyed about 640 structures, officials said on Sunday.

Gov. Bob Ferguson on Saturday declared a statewide emergency, citing "our drought conditions, unusually high temperatures and high winds all exacerbating our record-setting wildfires."
Oregon has 32 active large fires — the most of any state. Fresh fires ignited Saturday, sparking new evacuation orders.
With nearly two months left in the traditional fire season, Oregon set a modern record for acres burned, according to the Statesman Journal and Central Oregon Daily, citing Northwest Coordination Center data.

Zoom out: Idaho and Montana each have seven active large fires, per the NIFC. Minnesota and California have six, Colorado and Nevada have five, while Florida and Utah have three apiece. Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming each have one.

Between the lines: Climate change is contributing to larger, more frequent wildfires across much of the U.S. West, studies show. It is also increasing the frequency of critical fire weather and driving more extreme fire behavior, making fires harder to contain.

What we're watching: Wildfires and poor air quality are expected to continue across the Pacific Northwest, Rockies and parts of the Plains, according to the National Weather Service.

A Red Flag Warning has been issued for Oregon's southern Willamette Valley from 1-8pm local time Monday, while a Fire Weather Watch is in effect for Tuesday in the western Columbia River Gorge.

Go deeper: The health risks of wildfire smoke and air quality

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U.S. wildfire season exceeds 10-year average

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