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Updated September 1, 2020
Wildfire Statistics
Wildfires are unplanned and unwanted fires, including
Figure 1. Annual Wildfires and Acres Burned
lightning-caused fires, unauthorized human-caused fires,
(1990-2019)
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. 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.

Wildfire statistics help to illustrate past U.S. wildfire
Source: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).
activity. Nationwide data compiled by the National
Note: Data reflect wildland fires and acres burned nationwide,
Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) indicate that the number of
including wildland fires on federal and nonfederal lands.
annual wildfires is variable but has decreased slightly over
Over the past 10 years, there were an average of 64,100
the last 30 years and that the number of acres burned
wildfires annually and an average of 6.8 million acres
annually, while also variable, generally has increased (see
Figure 1). Every year since 2000, an average of 71,300
burned annually. In 2019, 50,477 wildfires burned 4.7
wildfires burned an average of 6.9 million acres. This figure
million acres nationwide, below the annual average for both
statistics. More than half of the acreage burned in 2019 was
is more than double the average annual acreage burned in
in Alaska (2.5 million acres), which was the only area that
the 1990s (3.3 million acres), although a greater number of
experienced significantly above-average wildfire activity
fires occurred annually in the 1990s (78,600 on average).
for the year. The 2015 fire season was the largest on record,
Table 1. Annual Wildfires and Acres Burned
with 10.1 million acres burned (see Figure 2); more than
half of these acres were in Alaska (5.1 million acres).

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
As of September 1, 2020, nearly 40,000 wildfires have
Number of Fires (thousands)
burned over 4.0 million acres this year. The nationwide
Federal
13.8
12.6
15.2
12.5
10.9
preparedness level is at the maximum level (5), indicating
significant commitment of shared resources.
FS
7.1
5.7
6.6
5.6
5.3
DOI
6.6
6.8
7.3
7.0
5.3
Figure 2. Top Five Years with Largest Wildfire
Acreage Burned Since 1960
Nonfederal
54.4
55.2
56.4
45.6
39.6
Total
68.2
67.7
71.5
58.1
50.5
Acres Burned (millions)



Federal
7.41
3.00
6.3
4.6
3.1
FS
1.92
1.25
2.9
2.3
0.6
DOI
5.47
1.70
3.3
2.3
2.3
Nonfederal
2.72
2.51
3.7
4.1
1.6
Total
10.13
5.51
10.0
8.8
4.7

Source: NIFC.
Source: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).
Notes: Federal includes fires that began on land managed by the
The number of fires and acreage burned are indicators of
Forest Service (FS), Department of the Interior (DOI), and other
the annual level of wildfire activity, but they may be
federal agencies (not listed). Nonfederal includes al other lands.
misleading, since many fires may occur in large, relatively
Column totals may not add due to rounding.
undeveloped areas, with very little impact to human
development or communities. Acreage burned also does not
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Wildfire Statistics
indicate the severity of the wildfire or the degree of impact
Figure 4. Acreage Burned by Region and Landowner
to the forest, soils, or any other ecological effects.
In 2019, 65% of the nationwide acreage burned by wildfires
was on federal lands (3.1 million acres; see Table 1). The
other 35% of the acreage burned occurred on state, local, or
privately owned lands but also accounted for 78% of the
fires (39,611). Of the federal acreage burned nationwide in
2019, 75% (2.3 million acres) burned on DOI land (mostly
in Alaska) and 20% (0.6 million acres) burned on FS land
(see Figure 3). Most wildfires are human-caused (88% on
average from 2015 to 2019), although the wildfires caused
by lightning tend to be slightly larger and burn more
acreage (55% of the average acreage burned from 2015 to
2019 was ignited by lightning).

Source: NIFC.
Figure 3. Percentage of Acreage Burned by
Landowner
Wildfire Damages
Although wildfires may have a beneficial impact on
ecological resources, wildfires also may have a devastating
impact, especially for those communities affected by
wildfire activity. Therefore, statistics showing the level of
destruction a wildfire causes can be useful, such as acres
burned, lives lost (firefighters and civilians), and structures
(residential, commercial, and other) destroyed. Table 2
provides some of this data, as well as firefighter personnel
data.
Table 2. FS and DOI Personnel and Loss Statistics


2016
2017
2018
2019
Source: NIFC.
Personnel




More wildfires occur in the East (including the central
FS Firefighters
10,000
10,000
10,000
10,000
states), but the wildfires in the West are larger and burn
more acreage (including Alaska, Arizona, California,
DOI Firefighters
4,129
4,514
4,492
4,442
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon,
Losses




Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). In 2019, over 29,600
fires burned 0.6 million acres in the East, compared with
Structures Burned
4,312
12,306
25,790
963
nearly 21,000 wildfires that burned nearly 4.1 million acres
% Residences
74%
66%
70%
46%
in the West (see Table 1). In the East (where there is less
federal acreage), most of the fires occur on nonfederal
Sources: Agency budget justifications and NIFC’s Wildland Fire
lands, whereas in the West most of the fires occur on
Summary and Statistics Annual Reports.
federal lands (see Figure 4). In 2019, 81% (0.5 million
Notes: Personnel data reflect fiscal year data; structures and
acres) of the acreage burned in the East was on nonfederal
residences burned reflect calendar-year data.
land, whereas 72% (2.9 million acres) of the acreage burned
in the West was on federal land. The acreage burned in
Conflagrations
Alaska in 2019 (2.5 million acres) accounts for more than
Of the 1.4 million wildfires that have occurred since 2000,
half the acreage burned in the West. It primarily occurred
197 exceeded 100,000 acres, and 13 exceeded 500,000
on federal land (1.7 million acres).
acres. Only a small fraction of wildfires become
catastrophic, and a small percentage of fires accounts for
the vast majority of acres burned. For example, only about
1% of wildfires become conflagrations—raging, destructive
fires—but predicting which fires will “blow up” into
conflagrations is challenging and depends on a multitude of
factors, such as weather and geography. In 2019, 2% of
wildfires were classified as large or significant (806) and 27
wildfires exceeded 40,000 acres in size, 19 of which
occurred in Alaska. Nine of the largest fires in 2019 also
exceeded 100,000 acres. There were more large or
significant wildfires in 2018: 1,167 (2% of the total fires
that year), 48 of which exceeded 40,000 acres in size and
11 of which exceeded 100,000 acres.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Wildfire Statistics
Focus IF10732, Federal Assistance for Wildfire Response
Issues for Congress
and Recovery or CRS Insight IN11487, 2020 Wildfire
Issues for Congress include the strategies and resources
Season: Brief Overview of FEMA Programs and Resources.
used for wildfire management and the impact of wildfires
on both the quality of life and the economy of communities
Katie Hoover, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy
surrounding wildfire activity. Congress also considers the
Laura A. Hanson, Senior Research Librarian
total federal cost of wildfire management, including the
cost of suppression operations, costs that vary annually and
IF10244
are difficult to predict. For more information, see CRS In


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