Datastream

Chart: 30 Years of Wildfires in America

Published

4 years ago

September 17, 2021

Carmen Ang

Wildfires in America

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The Briefing

An average of 70,000 wildfires blaze through the U.S. each year
These fires destroy approximately 5.8 million acres of land on a yearly basis
Over 43,000 fires have started across the U.S., burning 5 million acres of land as of Sept 3, 2021

30 Years of Wildfires in America

This summer, record-breaking droughts and relentless heat waves have fueled disastrous wildfires across the United States. It’s gotten so bad, the state of California has decided to shut down all national forests for two weeks to stop the spread.

But how disastrous has this year been compared to previous years? This graphic gives a historical look at the number of wildfires in America that have occurred each year since 1990, and the acres of forest land scorched during that period.

Total Wildland Fires and Acres from 1990 to 2020

In the U.S., an average of 70,000 wildfires burn through 5.8 million acres of land each year. But some years have been worse than others.

Year	# of Fires	# of Acres Burned
1990	66,481	4,621,621
1991	75,754	2,953,578
1992	87,394	2,069,929
1993	58,810	1,797,574
1994	79,107	4,073,579
1995	82,234	1,840,546
1996	96,363	6,065,998
1997	66,196	2,856,959
1998	81,043	1,329,704
1999	92,487	5,626,093
2000	92,250	7,393,493
2001	84,079	3,570,911
2002	73,457	7,184,712
2003	63,629	3,960,842
2004	65,461	*8,097,880
2005	66,753	8,689,389
2006	96,385	9,873,745
2007	85,705	9,328,045
2008	78,979	5,292,468
2009	78,792	5,921,786
2010	71,971	3,422,724
2011	74,126	8,711,367
2012	67,774	9,326,238
2013	47,579	4,319,546
2014	63,312	3,595,613
2015	68,151	10,125,149
2016	67,743	5,509,995
2017	71,499	10,026,086
2018	58,083	8,767,492
2019	50,477	4,664,364
2020	58,950	10,122,336
2021*	43,250	5,024,744

*note: 2021 figures as of September 3, 2021

One particularly bad year was 2006, which had over 96,000 fires and destroyed 9.9 million acres of land across the country. It was the year of the Esperanza Fire in California, which burned 40,000 acres and cost $9 million in damages.

2015 was also a devastating year, with over 10.1 million acres destroyed across the country–the worst year on record, in terms of acres burned.

Climate Change’s Role in Wildfires

Wildfires are only expected to worsen in the near future since warmer temperatures and drier climates allow the fires to grow quickly and intensely.

We’re already starting to see climate change impact the wildfire season. For instance, autumn is usually peak wildfire season for California, but this year, one of the largest fires on record started in mid-July, and is still burning as of the date of publication.

Editor’s note, September 20, 2021: In the post above, we said that California closed downed down all national parks for two weeks, starting August 31st. In fact, they closed down all national forests.

Where does this data come from?

Source: National Interagency Fire Center
Details: 2004 fires and acres do not include state lands for North Carolina.