August heat will continue to dry fuels bringing likelihood of more wildfires, Forest Service warns
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, August 6th, 2025 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
NORTHEAST OREGON – The U.S. Forest Service recently issued a warning of dryer conditions and increased fire risk throughout August. Though some areas in Northeast Oregon have seen precipitation over the past week, this has also brought scattered thunderstorms and caused numerous fire startups across national forest lands.
Between July 28 and August 3, the Wallowa Whitman National Forest in particular reported 22 lightning-caused fires. Thankfully, due to precipitation and a quick response from fire crews, all were contained or completely put out at under an acre in size. As of August 3, only the .25-acre Deer Creek Fire remained partially contained.
While the recent precipitation has helped reduce the risk of fire, and cooler temperatures are expected for this week, the overall fire danger remains high as the Forest Service predicts higher than average temperatures and increasingly dry fuels over the coming month in the Pacific Northwest.
The full release from the Forest Service on the predicted August conditions is as follows:
(Release from the U.S. Forest Service)
As August begins, fire weather forecasters predict higher than average temperatures will continue to dry fuels in the region and, along with lightning, cause numerous natural fire starts across Oregon and Washington.
Since the end of May, fire managers in the Pacific Northwest have engaged in fighting 53 large fires covering just over 200,000 acres, including National Forest lands.
Through initial and extended attack firefighters work to keep fires small, as they did with last week’s starts from lightning in central, south-central and eastern Oregon. However, without significant cooling and rain, communities should anticipate more large fires on the landscape in August and September.
With four large wildfires currently burning on National Forests in the region, 15 national forests are now in campfire restrictions to help prevent additional human-caused wildfires. Fire danger levels on all National Forests, except the Siuslaw National Forest, are High to Extreme.
Fire managers say with numerous expected natural ignitions that now is the time for people to double-down on fire prevention efforts. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, this year nearly 93% of all wildfires in the nation have been started by people.
For more news and information about national forests in the Pacific Northwest, visit our news page at https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/r6/news-events or our home page, at https://www.fs.usda.gov/r6. For more information about the USDA Forest Service visit https://www.fs.usda.gov.
Photo Caption: Hope Fire pictured on July 8, 2025. Photo courtesy of INCIWEB.GOV.
