Governor declares May Wildfire Awareness Month, warns of a challenging fire season

The governor opened a statewide wildfire briefing by signing a proclamation declaring May as Wildfire Awareness Month and urging Oregonians to prioritize prevention and preparedness. The governor urged residents to "get your Keep Oregon Green pin," visit prevention resources and prepare a family plan.

The briefing emphasized mounting risk: "On average, over 70% of wildfires in Oregon are human caused," the governor said, and later warned that a warm, low-snowpack winter tied to a potentially strong El Nio and NOAAs forecast of above-normal temperatures make this season a "wake up call." The governor also reported that Oregons 2025 season burned only "0.2 of the acreage that was burned in 2024," and noted the 10-year average of 680,000 acres as context.

Mariana Reese Temple, the State Fire Marshal, urged homeowners in wildfire-prone areas to take immediate property actions: "The number 1 thing that you can do as Oregonians right now is to be ready and use the month of May to create that 0 to 5 foot buffer," she said, and encouraged people to request free defensible-space assessments from state or local fire services.

Casey Casey, identified in the briefing as Oregons new state forester, described interagency and federal coordination on suppression and resources. "We talk very frequently with the regional director," Casey said, describing mutual-aid compacts, call-when-needed aviation contracts and pre-season staffing reviews. Casey added that Oregons Department of Forestry protects about 16,000,000 acres and relies on more than 700 permanent and seasonal firefighters and more than 300 engines.

Officials highlighted detection and communications assets they said helped keep 94% of fires on state forest land to 10 acres or less in 2025, including a multi-mission aircraft program and a statewide camera network. The governor and agency leaders noted three state-of-the-art communications vehicles assigned to incident-management teams and three logistics caches stocked with specialized equipment.

Reporters pressed officials on preparedness details. On federal coordination, Casey said federal partners had committed to aggressive initial attack this season and that mutual aid remains a core part of national response. On costs, the governor said the legislature and the emergency board have set aside funds for suppression and stressed that preventing fires and maintaining aggressive initial attack are the best ways to limit expenses.

When asked about detection-camera funding, officials said they were not aware of cuts and that session funding routed through the Department of Forestry and university partners would keep cameras and early-detection devices operational. On rangeland risk, the governor noted targeted investments, including $1,000,000 to Rangeland Fire Protection Associations to strengthen volunteer response capacity; Casey said the RFPA program has grown to 29 associations and that recent agreements allow the state to donate surplus equipment to those associations.

The briefing closed after an extended Q&A with reporters; officials reiterated public steps residents can take (sign up for local alerts at oregonalert.gov, make a two-week family preparedness plan, maintain defensible space, and use beforeyourburn.net to check burning rules).