Oregon planted 72 million seedlings and dropped about a billion seeds from aircraft, helping turn the 554-square-mile Tillamook Burn into a state forest

In 1933, a spark from one log dragging over another set off one of the worst wildfires in American history. According to the Oregon Encyclopedia entry on the Tillamook Burn, written by historian Doug Decker for the Oregon Historical Society, that single fire, and three more that followed over the next 18 years, tore through 355,000 acres, or 554 square miles, of forest in Oregon's Coast Range, just 50 miles from Portland. For readers watching wildfire seasons grow longer and more severe each year, Oregon’s response is worth knowing.

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