Northwest fires

There’s a red flag warning and heat advisories in place throughout several areas of the Northwest, along with several growing wildfires. The situation,…

Air quality east of the Cascade Mountains has deteriorated as wildfires burn across Washington and Oregon. In Southern Oregon, the air is hazardous. In Central Washington, air quality is unhealthy for everyone.

Usually, fire season starts to tamp down in September. This year has been anything but normal. In an unprecedented fire event, at least 80 fires started in Washington over Labor Day weekend.

A tool forest managers use to determine the level of fire danger is getting its first update in more than 40 years. The National Fire Danger Rating System uses information like temperature, humidity and wind to let firefighters know how wildfire will behave.

Washington may soon copy a rural wildfire fighting strategy that Oregon, Idaho and Nevada already employ: letting private ranchers attack range fires before the blazes get big.

The Northwest is already seeing the effects of climate change, according to a new national climate assessment.

More people are living in places that are prone to wildfires. That means during fire season, they live with the very real possibility of having to evacuate on very short notice.

Smoke from wildfires is blanketing much of the West. That's ruining some crops and may be stunting others. And it's making it difficult or unsafe for laborers to pick the harvest.

It was a wild weekend for wildfire in the Northwest. A cold front brought lightning and high winds -- but no rain -- to the region east of the Cascades already plagued by extremely dry conditions.

Weather predictions across the West are calling for excessive heat and more dry weather this week. That forecast is anything but good news in the Northwest, where significant risk of wildfire continues to increase.