October 19, 2023 2:50 a.m.

With temperatures cooling and widespread rain soaking the state, all Oregon Department of Forestry districts have terminated fire season restrictions, marking the end of the 2023 Oregon fire season declarations.

An ODF release said year to date, there have been 975 fires on ODF-protected lands, resulting in 17,968 acres burned. Three ODF Type 1 Incident Management Teams were deployed this season: one to the Golden Fire in the Klamath-Lake District, and two to the Tyee Ridge Complex in the Douglas Forest Protective Association District. Statewide to date, regardless of jurisdiction, there have been 1,909 fires that burned 190,507 acres.

ODF and association firefighters responded to nearly the same number of fires this year as the 10-year average, but kept the acres burned at approximately 16 percent of the 10-year average, which was 119,526 acres burned. The release said this is due to the agency’s aggressive approach to initial attack to preserve natural resources, protect communities and increase firefighter safety. Additional staffing and aircraft resources were funded by the 2021 Oregon State Legislature.

Overall, ODF put out 94 percent of fires at 10 acres or fewer this year.

ODF protects about 16 million acres of private, county, state, and federal forest and grazing lands in Oregon.