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Oregon officials credit quicker initial attack, mitigation for limiting 2025 wildfire damage
Summary
State forestry and fire‑marshal officials told legislators the 2025 season produced many fires but far fewer acres than 2024; officials credited mitigation, mutual aid and rapid initial attack (including the engine program) for limiting structure loss, while noting costly contracted resources and an hour‑long drone delay to air operations on the Flat Fire.
State wildfire officials told the House Interim Committee on Emergency Management and Veterans that the 2025 season reflected a new norm of frequent incidents that often start close to communities. Kyle Williams, deputy director of fire protection for the Oregon Department of Forestry, reported 1,160 fires on ODF‑protected lands and roughly 25,000 acres burned this summer, and he said the season nonetheless produced more structure loss in some areas than 2024.
Officials credited investments in mitigation, mutual aid and an engine program for improved outcomes. "We had 39 apparatus mobilized," Travis Madema of the State Fire Marshal’s Office said of an engine program funded through prior…
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