Almeda Drive Fire

{{Short description|2020 Oregon wildfire}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox wildfire|title=Almeda Drive Fire|partof=the [[2020 Oregon wildfires]]|image=File:Ashland closure (50321300661).jpg|caption=Almeda Drive Fire smoke plume from [[Interstate 5]]|alt=Refer to caption|location=[[Jackson County, Oregon|Jackson County]], [[Oregon]]|area={{convert|3200|acre|ha sqmi km2|0}}|coordinates={{coord|42.2120|-122.7141|display=inline,title}}|pushpin_map=USA Oregon|pushpin_map_caption=Location in Southern Oregon|date={{Unbulleted list|{{Start date|8|9}} – |{{End date|2020|9|15}}|({{age in days|2020|9|8|2020|9|15|show unit=full}})}}|fatalities=3|cause=Human origin|structures=3,000+}}{{2020 Western United States wildfire season}}The '''Almeda Drive Fire''' was a devastating wildfire in [[Jackson County, Oregon]]. The fire started on September 8, 2020 near [[Ashland, Oregon]] and was deemed to be of human origin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Etling |first=Bert |date=2022-09-07 |title=Two years later, Almeda Fire remains under investigation |url=https://ashland.news/two-years-later-almeda-fire-remains-under-investigation/ |access-date=2026-02-14 |website=Ashland News |language=en-US}}</ref>

Prior to the fire, most of the [[Pacific Northwest]], including all of Oregon, was under drought conditions by spring due to below-average precipitation in the months prior.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lindsey |first=Rebecca |date=2020-05-26 |title=Drought emerges across the Pacific Northwest in spring 2020 |url=https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/drought-emerges-across-pacific-northwest-spring-2020 |access-date=2025-08-13 |website=[[Climate.gov]] |language=en}}</ref>

The fire started behind Almeda Drive on September 8, 2020, at 11:07 AM.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dohrmann |first=Sharon |date=2025-06-28 |title=Ashland Wasn’t Built with Wildfire in Mind — It’s Time to Adapt |url=https://ashlandclimate.org/lessons-learned-from-the-almeda-fire/ |access-date=2026-02-14 |website=Ashland Climate Collaborative |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUXrQHNQG3s |title=Radio calls tell the story of the Almeda Fire's first desperate hours |date=2021-09-09 |last=NewsWatch 12 |type=Video |language=en |access-date=2025-08-12 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}</ref> Within two hours, the fire had reached the south part of [[Talent, Oregon|Talent]], and four hours after it started, it was burning in [[Phoenix, Oregon|Phoenix]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nauman |first=Rich |date=2020-10-09 |title=Mapping the Almeda Drive Fire |url=https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/mapping/mapping-the-almeda-drive-fire |access-date=2025-08-13 |website=ArcGIS Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> Wind gusts of {{convert|40-45|mi|km|0}} and severe drought conditions contributed to the rapid spread.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bernton |first=Hal |date=2020-10-04 |title=Urban wildfire: When homes are the fuel for a runaway blaze, how do you rebuild a safer community? |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/urban-wildfire-when-homes-are-the-fuel-for-a-runaway-blaze-how-do-you-rebuild-a-safer-community/ |access-date=2026-02-14 |website=[[The Seattle Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref> The fire was contained by September 15, 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2020-09-15 |title=Almeda fire 100% contained, officials say Tuesday |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2020/09/almeda-fire-100-contained-officials-say-tuesday.html |access-date=2026-02-14 |website=[[The Oregonian]] |language=en}}</ref> The burn area was {{Convert|3200|acre|km2}},<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Connor |first=Erin Patrick |date=2020-10-20 |title=12 hours inside Oregon’s Almeda Fire |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/20/oregon-almeda-fire/ |access-date=2026-02-14 |website=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref> and over 3,000 structures were destroyed.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Neumann |first1=Erik |last2=Moriarty |first2=Liam |date=2020-09-20 |title=The Almeda Drive Fire Causes Extensive Damage To Talent and Phoenix |url=https://www.ijpr.org/2020-09-08/fire-in-ashland-leads-to-limited-evacuations |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910205524/https://www.ijpr.org/2020-09-08/fire-in-ashland-leads-to-limited-evacuations |archive-date=2020-09-10 |access-date=2020-09-10 |website=[[Jefferson Public Radio]] |publisher=}}</ref> == See also == * [[List of Oregon wildfires]]

== References == {{reflist}}

[[Category:2020 wildfires in the United States]] [[Category:2020 Oregon wildfires]]