The largest wildfire in the country this year, the Cram Fire, has scorched over 95,740 acres, according to fire officials in central Oregon on Sunday. Ground crews have made progress in partially containing the blaze, which still has the potential to escalate into a megafire.
The reported size of the Cram Fire was slightly revised downward from Saturday following “more accurate mapping,” officials noted. This enormous fire has mobilized over 900 personnel, resulted in the destruction of several homes, and prompted evacuations in two counties. Currently, the fire is 49% contained after crews faced challenges in controlling the flames last week.
Forecasters predict that cooler temperatures and increased humidity over the weekend will persist into early this week, potentially supporting firefighting efforts. However, the sheer scale of the fire is daunting: if it expands to at least 100,000 acres, it will be classified as a megafire, marking the first such incident in the U.S. in 2025, according to Stanton Florea, a spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which oversees wildland firefighting operations nationwide.
Oregon experienced six wildfires that reached megafire status last year, as federal data indicates. While megafires are considered rare, their occurrence has increased alongside the overall rise in frequency and intensity of wildfires. So far this year, there have been 40,934 wildfires, marking the highest year-to-date total in at least a decade, per National Interagency Fire Center statistics.
Since 2000, of the 1.6 million wildfires recorded, only 254 have surpassed 100,000 acres, and just 16 have reached at least 500,000 acres, according to a 2023 Congressional Research Service report. The likelihood of extreme weather events, such as prolonged droughts and strong winds, has been exacerbated by human-caused global warming, recent studies suggest. This has led to wildfires that not only ignite suddenly but also escalate rapidly in scale.
The Cram Fire, which has prompted evacuations in parts of Jefferson and Wasco counties, ignited a week ago amid intensely hot, dry, and windy conditions in the region. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
