5 years ago the Labor Day fires scorched Oregon. What has the state learned?

Five years ago, Oregon saw the deadliest wildfire season in state history. Eleven lives were lost, skies turned orange, more than 4,000 homes burned and tens of thousands of Oregonians evacuated as multiple fires scorched more than a million acres.

Global temperatures had been rising for decades leading up to the Labor Day fires. The western side of the Cascade Mountains, once virtually untouched by major fires, had seen more serious blazes and worsening drought since at least 2015 . Across the state, fires were igniting more often and burning more terrain. As hot winds raced across a parched Oregon landscape over the 2020 Labor Day weekend, those changing conditions converged to set the state on fire.

That year also transformed how Oregon thinks about and responds to fire. Some who