Douglas Forest Protective Association firefighters battle a blaze after the sun goes down. (Rachael Pope/Douglas Forest Protective Association)
When Oregon’s 2024 fire season ended in late October, over 1.9 million acres had burned across the state — an area larger than Delaware. For Tyler McCarty, district manager at the Coos Forest Protective Association, in the coastal southwest part of the state, fires today are a “night and day difference” from what they were 20 years ago.
McCarty spent more than two decades with the Oregon Department of Forestry before starting his current position in rural Coos County, where he also commands one of the state’s instant management teams that responds to large fires and other natural disasters. He started his career right out of high school as an entry level firefighter, and has been fighting fires since 2000…