The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Wildland Fire Service announced October 1 that they are launching the fall and winter prescribed fire season across Oregon and Washington, with planned burns at locations throughout both states as weather, fuel moisture, and air quality conditions become favorable. Operations are expected to continue through the fall and into winter.

Why Prescribed Fire Matters Now

After a summer defined by catastrophic unplanned wildfires across the Pacific Northwest, fall prescribed burns offer land managers a critical window to get ahead of the next fire season. When accumulated fuels — dead trees, brush piles, and layers of unburned organic matter — are reduced through controlled burning, fires that do ignite are generally smaller, slower-moving, and more tractable for firefighters.

“Prescribed fire is one of our most effective tools for reducing wildfire risk and improving habitat,” said Josh O’Connor, Northwest Geographic Area Fire Chief for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. “By carefully planning and executing these burns, we’re helping protect communities and strengthen the health of our public lands.”

Techniques and Targets

Burns will employ several approaches depending on the landscape and management objectives:

  • Broadcast burning: Application of fire across an entire designated area
  • Hand pile ignitions: Burning of piles of debris assembled by hand crews
  • Machine pile ignitions: Burning of mechanically constructed slash piles

Priority targets include the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) — where developed land meets fire-prone forests and shrublands — and areas with decades of accumulated fuels from historical fire suppression. Burns will also focus on residual materials from previous thinning operations, converting hazardous slash into carbon that benefits soil rather than fuel that threatens communities.

Idaho Burns Also Planned

Separately, the BLM has announced planned prescribed burns in central and eastern Idaho as part of the Trump administration’s focus on reducing wildfire risk, improving forest and rangeland health, and protecting nearby communities.

What Residents Should Know

The BLM and USWFS urge residents near planned burn areas to take the following precautions:

  • Smoke from prescribed burns may settle in low-lying areas overnight — close windows after dark
  • Reduce speed and turn on headlights when driving through smoky areas
  • Residents with heart or lung disease, asthma, or other chronic conditions should consult their doctors and monitor local air quality at AirNow.gov

All burns are carried out only when weather, fuel conditions, and air quality are within prescribed parameters. Real-time information on upcoming and active burns is available from the BLM Oregon-Washington state office.