Burned Out: Deadly National ForestFires Now Entering Towns. By Bob Zybach, PhD.
The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires caught everyone’s attention because of their size and affected population. 29 people died, more than 18,000 homes and structures were destroyed, and 57,800 acres burned. The location, politics, and insurance claims associated with this catastrophic event will likely be in the news for many years to follow for those reasons.
Compare this with the 25+ towns, 124 fatalities, 31,000+ homes and structures lost, and 4,327,600 acres burned from 2018 through 2024 in northern California and western Oregon within the bounds of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP).
And consider these were not the only acres and structures burned during those years in NWFP lands — just the ones that burned into towns.
More towns have burned in National Forest wildfires in the last seven years — and mostly in NWFP territory — than had taken place in the entire US over the previous 100 years — a lot more.
How did this happen? And how to fix?
Read full article found in Oregon Fish & Wildlife Journal:
