The cost from the wildfires raging across our state, in damaged property and lives lost, will be unprecedented for Oregon. But the strong winds that stoked the flames and pushed the blazers toward populated areas? Forecasters saw those coming. And the winds fit a pattern that have played out through history.

On this episode, reporters Kale Williams and Ted Sickinger talk about how climate change and federal forest management policies have put our state in this terrible predicament, where small blazes can turn into raging infernos — and whether we have any reason for optimism going forward.

Related Reading:

Wind, fuel heat: 3 factors combined to set Western Oregon ablaze

Oregon's historic wildfires: unusual but not unprecedented

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