News

Firefighters working through the night have completed fireline around the entire perimeter of the wildfire that erupted beside Interstate 5 north of Grants Pass, an important step forward after the fast-moving blaze destroyed a home and threatened surrounding...

A longtime piece of Oregon’s wildfire history has been lost to the Grasshopper Fire. Officials with the Mt. Hood National Forest confirmed Saturday that the Flag Point Fire Lookout was destroyed by the wildfire overnight, despite an extensive effort by firefighters to...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Firefighters are mounting an aggressive ground and aerial attack on a grass fire burning along Interstate 5 near Grants Pass Saturday afternoon. The fire was initially estimated at approximately 10 acres as crews arrived and began working alongside...

An Eastern Oregon man is being held on $750,000 bail after authorities accused him of being connected to a series of fires reported along rural roads in Malheur County. Paul Clinton Emerson, 61, of Ontario, was arrested at his residence on the night of July 21,...

A rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” Red Flag Warning has been issued for parts of Central and Eastern Oregon on Saturday, August 1, as strong winds collide with extremely dry vegetation and several ongoing wildfires. Oregon is entering August under a fire...

Oregon has not yet reached August, but the 2026 wildfire season has already left an enormous mark across the state. From the open rangelands of southeastern Oregon to the dry hills surrounding small communities in the central and eastern parts of the state, fire has...

As firefighters continue working long shifts across a smoke-covered Oregon, the federal government has agreed to help cover the cost of battling three major wildfires. Two other requests, including one tied to a fire complex that grew to nearly 300,000 acres, were...

Across Oregon, wildfires are often described through numbers. Acres burned. Containment percentages. Evacuation zones. Engines, crews and aircraft assigned to the flames. But on the Warm Springs Reservation, the Bench Fire is being measured in family homes, treasured...

For thousands of people traveling through eastern Oregon, one of the state’s most important highways became eerily quiet overnight. A roughly 70-mile section of Interstate 84 between Baker City and Ontario was closed in both directions for about five hours as the...

Central Oregon entered the final weekend of July under a sky filled with smoke, flashing emergency alerts and the unsettling knowledge that several dangerous wildfires were growing at the same time. This article is based on reporting from OPB journalists Joni Auden...