The Oregon Department of Forestry declared an end to the 2023 wildfire season on Oct. 18, marking Oregon’s third consecutive year of declining wildfire conditions. Fires burned approximately 190,507 acres around the state in 2023, well shy of the 456,038 acres torched by wildfires in 2022 and a fraction of the 1.14 million acres devastated by wildfires in 2020.
As wildfires continue to burn, lightning and thunderstorms are sparking new ones. It has fire officials worried, as they already have their hands full.