A dangerous shift in the Wrights Spring Fire turned deadly Friday, claiming the life of a Klamath Falls man who was operating heavy equipment as crews worked to slow the wildfire east of Chiloquin. The Klamath County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as 47-year-old...
After several days of staring through a brown haze, people across western Oregon may finally be able to open a window and see the hills again. Wildfire smoke that settled over Portland, Salem, Eugene and much of the Willamette Valley is expected to begin thinning...
One of Central Oregon’s most important east-west highways remains shut down as firefighters continue working along the sprawling Rowe Creek Complex. As of Thursday, August 6, U.S. Highway 26 was still closed between Prineville and Mitchell. Oregon Department of...
Wildfires are serious. Evacuation notices are serious. And when fire officials tell Oregonians to prepare, people should pay attention. But serious situations don’t need to be exaggerated to generate clicks. A national news story published by The Independent on...
As wildfires force evacuations, destroy homes and send smoke across Oregon and the West, some people are apparently watching the devastation with something other than concern. They’re betting money on it. Online prediction markets have begun offering contracts that...
Smoke had drifted into Lane County again, turning the sky a sickly-yellow and the surrounding hills into indistinct hazy blue, when I found myself remembering an old newspaper clipping I’d saved during some research into western Oregon history. The clipping came from...
Mt. Hood Meadows is under a Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation order as the Grasshopper Fire continues burning through the forests east of Mount Hood. The popular ski resort announced the evacuation Tuesday morning, asking employees, visitors, and members of the public to...
Oregon’s already devastating 2026 wildfire season is now within striking distance of becoming the largest on record for total acreage burned. As of Monday morning, August 3, 60 large fires had burned an estimated 2,014,481 acres across the state, according to figures...
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,...