Fire Season Is Peak: What Pacific Northwest Residents Need to Know Right Now

With fire season at its most intense point of the year and dozens of fires burning across the Pacific Northwest, now is not the time to be unprepared. Whether you live in a rural area, a wildland-urban interface community, or a city that is currently experiencing smoke impacts, there are concrete steps you should take today.

Know Your Evacuation Zone

The first and most critical step is knowing your evacuation level and what it means. Oregon and Washington both use a three-level system:

Level 1 – Be Ready: A fire exists in your general area. Monitor local emergency alerts and prepare your household to leave if necessary.
Level 2 – Be Set: Be prepared to leave at a moment's notice. Your go-bag should be packed and in your vehicle. Know at least two evacuation routes from your home.
Level 3 – Go Now: Leave immediately. Do not wait to gather belongings. Roadways can close without warning due to fire spread or smoke.

In Oregon, residents can sign up for AlertOregon at alert.oregon.gov. In Washington, check your county's emergency management website or ReadyWA.gov. In Idaho, county sheriff offices manage local emergency notifications — register now, before you need it.

Build a Go-Bag Today

A go-bag is a prepared kit you can grab in seconds if you need to evacuate immediately. At a minimum, your go-bag should include:

Important documents: IDs, insurance cards, passports, property records (stored in waterproof container or as digital backups)
Medications: At least a 7-day supply of all prescription medications
Cash in small bills
Phone chargers and a portable battery pack
Three days of food and water per person and pet
N95 or P100 respirator masks for each family member
Change of clothes
Flashlight and extra batteries
First aid kit

Prepare Your Home and Property

If you live in or near fire-prone areas, defensible space is one of the most effective investments you can make. Fire officials recommend:

Zone 1 (0–30 feet from home): Remove dead vegetation, thin trees and shrubs, keep grass mowed short, and eliminate combustible materials from decks and under porches.
Zone 2 (30–100 feet from home): Create spacing between trees and large shrubs to slow fire spread. Remove ladder fuels — low branches that could allow fire to climb from the ground into tree canopy.
Clean gutters and remove debris from rooftops. Embers can travel miles ahead of a fire and are a primary cause of home ignition.
Close all windows, doors, and garage doors if you must evacuate. A closed home is significantly more likely to survive ember showers than an open one.

Protect Yourself from Smoke

With air quality currently at unhealthy and hazardous levels across parts of the Pacific Northwest, smoke protection is an immediate concern even if you're not in a fire zone:

Stay indoors with windows closed and use air conditioning on recirculate mode if available.
Use HEPA air purifiers to improve indoor air quality. A DIY box fan + furnace filter (Corsi-Rosenthal box) can be an effective low-cost alternative.
Wear N95 masks outdoors. Cloth and surgical masks do not filter the fine particles in wildfire smoke.
Limit outdoor exercise. Even young, healthy people can experience lung irritation during heavy smoke events.

Resources

Oregon Emergency Alerts: alert.oregon.gov
Washington Wildfire Resources: ReadyWA.gov | dnr.wa.gov/wildfire
Air Quality (National): AirNow.gov | fire.airnow.gov
Oregon Smoke Information: oregonsmoke.org
Active Fire Map (National): inciweb.nwcg.gov
Northwest Fire Situation: gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc