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Wildfires in United States

4,766 fires over 400 hectares with an official perimeter since 2016, adding up to 27,761,368 hectares burned across 958 counties.

Only fires of 400 ha or more get an entry: smaller ones are not in the lists or the entry totals, but they are in the official yearly series.

These figures leave out one burn that was probably not a wildfire (agricultural, pasture, reed-bed or prescribed); 42 provisional pages, seen only as heat detections and still without a perimeter. They appear in the lists, marked.

The season, week by week

Copernicus GWIS

United States, at this point in the year: 3,437,888 hectares, below the 2012–2025 average of 4,868,486.

0 3,653k 7,305k Jan Apr Jul Oct Dec
2026 average 2012–2025 lowest and highest

The official record

2012–2026
Yearly average 2016–20255,488,670 ha
Worst year2020 7,309,906 ha
With a page here4,766 since 2016
121314151617181920212223242526
›See the year-by-year table
Year Fires hectares Source
20267,851 3,455,585 GWIS
20258,937 3,240,098 GWIS
20249,876 4,349,245 GWIS
202310,545 3,412,167 GWIS
202217,602 6,564,612 GWIS
202116,176 6,825,769 GWIS
202015,293 7,309,906 GWIS
201915,460 5,057,560 GWIS
201814,119 5,614,368 GWIS
201717,153 6,893,859 GWIS
201616,453 5,619,113 GWIS
201516,002 6,612,172 GWIS
201414,429 4,693,553 GWIS
201313,232 4,543,233 GWIS
201213,922 6,001,828 GWIS

National estimates from Copernicus GWIS, rebuilt from heat detections since 2012.

When it burned: year by year, month by month

Hectares with an official perimeter by the fire’s starting month, and the largest fire of each year.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecΣLargest of the year
2026
4k
157k
399k
58k
204k
389k
1,557k
361k
37k
4k
 3,171,082 Morrill 259,820 ha
2025
24k
25k
77k
18k
34k
463k
436k
423k
107k
2k
3k
4k
 1,616,031 Dragon Bravo 58,883 ha
2024
581k
30k
30k
27k
176k
938k
379k
402k
67k
3k
4k
 2,635,920 Smokehouse Creek 423,805 ha
2023
6k
34k
53k
40k
26k
361k
199k
35k
14k
18k
2k
 788,871 York 38,335 ha
2022
3k
19k
177k
314k
270k
1,177k
308k
345k
116k
26k
9k
2k
 2,767,294 Hermits Peak 142,361 ha
2021
11k
3k
82k
40k
94k
385k
1,450k
556k
127k
26k
2k
78k
 2,853,457 Dixie 396,479 ha
2020
3k
7k
23k
14k
100k
372k
353k
1,787k
1,087k
131k
14k
7k
 3,899,840 August Complex 432,192 ha
2019
7k
22k
17k
32k
726k
559k
170k
87k
53k
17k
4k
 1,692,909 Chalkyitsik Complex 190,312 ha
2018
10k
15k
120k
347k
96k
392k
1,282k
472k
162k
9k
107k
494
 3,013,758 Ranch 192,471 ha
2017
8k
39k
585k
108k
56k
432k
1,339k
699k
69k
108k
8k
154k
 3,604,053 Oks - Starbuck 265,825 ha
2016
10k
75k
251k
67k
85k
238k
569k
261k
37k
54k
62k
10k
 1,718,151 Anderson Creek Fire 151,444 ha

Hectares burned per year

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Largest recorded fires

By region

  1. California 5,073,032 ha · 456
  2. Oregon 3,870,498 ha · 348
  3. Alaska 3,732,243 ha · 472
  4. Idaho 2,019,505 ha · 402
  5. Washington 1,840,200 ha · 297
  6. Nevada 1,497,975 ha · 245
  7. Arizona 1,463,655 ha · 387
  8. Texas 1,382,392 ha · 346
  9. Montana 1,282,788 ha · 318
  10. New Mexico 944,852 ha · 214
  11. Oklahoma 909,486 ha · 300
  12. Colorado 882,436 ha · 176

and 31 more regions with less area

Fires in 2026 · 494

Fires in 2025 · 342

Fires in 2024 · 371

Fires in 2023 · 307

Fires in 2022 · 493

Fires in 2021 · 386

Fires in 2020 · 441

Fires in 2019 · 368

Fires in 2018 · 512

Fires in 2017 · 619

Fires in 2016 · 476