2015 Northwest fire statistics to date

September 21, 2015

Following are highlight wildfire statistics in the Pacific Northwest region through Sept. 11.

·         Since June 1, approximately 1,571,218 acres were affected by wildfire in the Northwest: 576,901 acres in Oregon and 994,317 acres in Washington.
·         There were a total of 3,404 reported fires in the two-state area: 1,942  in Oregon (human-caused 849, lightning-caused 1,093), and 1,462 in Washington (human-caused 1,011, lightning-caused 451).
·         There were 101 fires meeting large fire* criteria: 41 in Oregon and 60 in Washington.

·         NW Incident Management Teams (National Interagency Management Organization, Area Command, Type 1 & Type 2) mobilized 46 times.

·         To date, a total of 58,275 lightning strikes have been recorded. The largest number of strikes occurring in one day was 6,469 (July 9).
·         In Oregon, the largest fire/complex is the Canyon Creek Complex for a total of 110,406 acres.  

·         The largest fire/complex in Washington is the North Star at 211,356 acres.

·         The estimated total firefighting cost to date exceeds $463,953,514; this includes $211,041,902** in Oregon and $252,911,612** in Washington.

·         During peak fire activity, more than 10,900 firefighters and support personnel were actively working on NW fires.

·         In Oregon, fires affected 153,142 acres of Sage Grouse habitat:

– Very high priority habitat = Less than 1 acre
– High priority habitat = 74,343 acres
– Moderate habitat = 78,798 acres

*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.

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