N
The Daily Insight

What is the biggest forest fire in Oregon history?

Author

Eleanor Gray

Updated on April 30, 2026

What is the biggest forest fire in Oregon history?

Oregon’s largest fires are actually believed to have taken place in the 1800s. The Silverton Fire of 1865 is listed as Oregon’s largest at over 900,000 acres….

Biscuit Fire
LocationSiskiyou National Forest, Oregon and California, USA
Coordinates42.05°N 123.883333°WCoordinates:42.05°N 123.883333°W
Statistics

How many forest fires were in 2015?

8,745 wildfires
A total of 8,745 wildfires burned a total area of 893,362 acres (3,615 km2) in California during 2015.

When was the last wildfire in Oregon?

The 2020 Oregon wildfire season was one of the most destructive on record in the state of Oregon. The season is a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfire season….List of wildfires.

CountyLake
Acres50,951
Start dateSeptember 7
Containment dateOctober 6
NotesHuman-caused, 1 structure destroyed.

Has Oregon ever had a wildfire?

More than half the acres burned in 2021 came on the 413,717-acre Bootleg Fire, the state’s third-largest blaze since 1900. “We knew it was dry — and it was an area we spotlighted before the season — but to see it grow by 60,000 to 80,000 acres per day was just something outside our experience.”

Why is Oregon fire called bootleg?

Flames rise from the Bootleg fire in southern Oregon on July 14. But the Bootleg fire, named after a local creek, is the largest in the country, a fast-moving, wind-driven conflagration large enough to create its own lightning storms, consuming over 400,000 acres of forest.

Who started the Oregon forest fires?

The fire was started on September 2, 2017, by a 15-year-old boy igniting fireworks during a burn ban. The fire burned 50,000 acres, and burned for three months, before being declared completely contained….

Eagle Creek Fire
CauseIllegal use of fireworks
Perpetrator(s)Teenage minor
Map
Location of the fire in Oregon

What was the biggest fire in 2015?

On August 21, President Barack Obama declared the fires a federal emergency. On August 24, the Washington Department of Natural Resources announced the Okanogan Complex fire had become the largest fire complex in Washington State history….

2015 Washington wildfires
Cost$253 million
Deaths3
Non-fatal injuries4
Season

How many wildfires happened in 2014?

Wildfires – Annual 2014

January – DecemberTotalsRank (out of 15 years)
Number of Fires63,3452nd Least
Acres Burned per Fire56.613th Most
3rd Least

What started the Oregon Fire 2021?

The 2021 Oregon wildfire season began in May 2021. The wildfire season in Oregon experienced an early start due to an abnormally dry spring coupled with low snowpack levels amid an ongoing drought.

Where are the 2021 Oregon fires?

Oregon
2021 Oregon wildfires/Location

Why is it called Dixie Fire?

The Dixie Fire was an enormous wildfire in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama Counties, California. It is named after the creek near where it started.