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Updated October 3, 2022
Wildfire Statistics
Wildfires are unplanned fires, including lightning-caused
Figure 1. Annual Wildfires and Acres Burned, 1992-2021
fires, unauthorized human-caused fires, and escaped
prescribed fire projects. States are responsible for
responding to wildfires that begin on nonfederal (state,
local, and private) lands, except for lands protected by
federal agencies under cooperative agreements. The federal
government is responsible for responding to wildfires that
begin on federal lands. The Forest Service (FS)—within the
U.S. Department of Agriculture—carries out wildfire
management and response across the 193 million acres of
the National Forest System (NFS). The Department of the
Interior (DOI) manages wildfire response for more than 400
million acres of national parks, wildlife refuges and

preserves, other public lands, and Indian reservations.
Source: NICC Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics annual reports.
Note: Data reflect wildland fires and acres burned nationwide,
Wildfire statistics help to illustrate past U.S. wildfire
including wildland fires on federal and nonfederal lands.
activity. Nationwide data compiled by the National
From 2012 to 2021, there were an average of 61,289
Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) indicate that the
wildfires annually and an average of 7.4 million acres
number of annual wildfires is variable but has decreased
impacted annually. In 2021, 58,968 wildfires burned 7.1
slightly over the last 30 years and the number of acres
million acres.
affected annually, while also variable, generally has
increased (see Figure 1). Since 2000, an annual average of
As of October 3, 2022, nearly 54,200 wildfires have
70,072 wildfires has burned an annual average of 7.0
impacted about 6.9 million acres this year. As of September
million acres. The acreage figure is more than double the
27, 2022, the nationwide Preparedness Level is 2 (see the
average annual acreage burned in the 1990s (3.3 million
“Resources” section for more information).
acres), although a greater number of fires occurred annually
in the 1990s (78,600 average).
Figure 2. Top Five Years with Largest Wildfire
Acreage Burned Since 1960
Table 1. Annual Wildfires and Acres Burned

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Number of Fires (thousands)
Federal
15.2
12.5
10.9
14.4
14.0
FS
6.6
5.6
5.3
6.7
6.2
DOI
7.3
7.0
5.3
7.6
7.6
Other
1.2
0.1
0.2
<0.1
0.2
Nonfederal
56.4
45.6
39.6
44.6
45.0

Source: NICC Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics annual reports.
Total
71.5
58.1
50.5
59.0
59.0
Note: Number of fires in thousands.
Acres Burned (millions)



The number of fires and acreage burned are indicators of
Federal
6.3
4.6
3.1
7.1
5.2
the annual level of wildfire activity. However, these
numbers may be misleading with respect to their impact on
FS
2.9
2.3
0.6
4.8
4.1
human development or communities since many fires may
DOI
3.3
2.3
2.3
2.3
1.0
occur in large, relatively undeveloped areas. Acreage
burned also does not indicate the severity of the wildfire,
Other
<0.1
<0.1
<0.1
<0.1
<0.1
the degree of impact upon forests or soils, or other
Nonfederal
3.7
4.1
1.6
3.1
1.9
ecological effects.
Total
10.0
8.8
4.7
10.1
7.1
Most wildfires are human-caused (89% on average from
Source: National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC)
2017 to 2021), although the wildfires caused by lightning
Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics annual reports.
tend to be slightly larger and burn more acreage (52% of
Notes: FS = Forest Service; DOI = Department of the Interior.
the average acreage burned from 2017 to 2021 was ignited
Column totals may not add due to rounding.
by lightning).
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Wildfire Statistics
In 2021, 73% of the nationwide acreage burned by wildfires
ranges from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). The higher PLs
was on federal lands (5.2 million acres; Table 1). The other
indicate significant commitment of shared resources. In
27% of the acreage burned was on state, local, or privately
2021, the PL was at the highest level for 68 days, the
owned lands. Fires on these lands (44,960) accounted for
longest since at least 2000.
76% of total fires. Of the federal acreage burned nationwide
in 2021, 79% (4.1 million acres) burned on FS land and
Wildfire Damages
19% (1.0 million acres) burned on DOI land (Figure 3).
Although wildfires may have a beneficial impact on
ecological resources, wildfires also may have devastating
Figure 3. Percentage Acreage Burned by Ownership
impacts, especially for communities affected by wildfire
activity. Therefore, statistics showing the level of
destruction a wildfire causes can provide useful metrics,
such as acres burned or impacted, lives lost (firefighters and
civilians), and structures (residential, commercial, and
other) destroyed. In 2021, nearly 6,000 structures were
burned in wildfires, the majority of which occurred in
California (see Table 2).
Table 2. Loss Statistics

2018
2019
2020
2021
Structures Burned
25,790
963
17,904
5,972

Source: NICC Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics annual reports.
% Residences
70%
46%
54%
60%
Source: NICC Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics annual reports.
More wildfires occur in the East (including the central
states), but the wildfires in the West are larger and burn
Conflagrations
more acreage (including Alaska, Arizona, California,
Of the 1.5 million wildfires that have occurred since 2000,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon,
237 exceeded 100,000 acres burned and 15 exceeded
Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). In 2021, just over
500,000 acres burned. Only a small fraction of wildfires
23,000 wildfires burned approximately 6.2 million acres in
become catastrophic, and a small percentage of fires
the West, compared with the over 35,000 fires that burned
accounts for the vast majority of acres burned. For example,
just under 1.0 million acres in the East. In the East (where
only about 1% of wildfires become conflagrations—raging,
there is less federal acreage), most of the fires occur on
destructive fires—but predicting which fires will “blow up”
nonfederal lands, whereas in the West most of the fires
into conflagrations is challenging and depends on a
occur on federal lands (see Figure 4). In 2021, 73% (0.7
multitude of factors, such as weather and geography. In
million acres) of the acreage burned in the East was on
2021, 2% of wildfires were classified as large or significant
nonfederal land, whereas 80% (4.9 million acres) of the
(943); 38 exceeded 40,000 acres in size; and 13 exceeded
acreage burned in the West was on federal land.
100,000 acres. In context, there were slightly more large or
significant wildfires in 2020 (999), but even more in 2017
Figure 4. Acreage Burned by Region and Ownership
(1,409). There have been 1,065 large or significant fires
annually on average from 2017 through 2021.
Issues for Congress
Issues for Congress include the strategies and resources
used for wildfire prevention, mitigation, and management,
and the impact of wildfires on both the quality of life and
the economies of communities surrounding wildfire
activity. Other issues relate to post-wildfire recovery and
site restoration. Congress also considers the total federal
cost of wildfire management, including the cost of
suppression operations; these costs vary annually and are
difficult to predict.
For more information, see
Source: NICC Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics annual reports.
Notes: West: AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, HI, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA,
 CRS In Focus IF10732, Federal Assistance for Wildfire
and WY. East: Al other states, including Puerto Rico.
Response and Recovery, and
Resources
 CRS Report R40884, Wildfires: CRS Experts.
Another metric useful for assessing wildfire activity is the
extent that resources—personnel, equipment—are engaged
Katie Hoover, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy
in wildfire suppression. A proxy for resource commitments
Laura A. Hanson, Senior Research Librarian
is the nationwide Preparedness Level (PL) scale, which
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Wildfire Statistics


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