About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (June 09, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbxx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: xa S k Wildfire Statistics Wildfires are unplanned andunwanted fires, including lightning-caused fires, unauthorized human-caused fires, and escaped prescribedfire projects. States are responsible for responding to wildfires that begin on nonfederal (state, local, and private) lands, except for lands protectedby federal agencies under cooperative agreements. The federal government is responsible forresponding to wildfires that begin on federallands. The Forest Service (FS)-within the U.S. Department of Agriculture-carries out wildfire management andresponse across the 193 million acres of the National Forest System The Department of the Interior (DO) manages wildfire response for more than 400 million acres ofnational parks, wildlife refuges andpreserves, other public lands, and Indianres ervations. Wildfire statistics help to illustrate past U.S. wildfire activity. Nationwide data compiled by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) indicate that the number of annual wildfires is variable but has decreased slightly over the last 30 years andthat thenumber of acres burned annually, while also variable, generally has increased (see Figure 1). Every year since 2000, an average of71,300 wildfires burned an average of 6.9 million acres. This figuie is more than double the average annual acreage burned in the 1990s (3.3 million acres), although a greater number of fires occurred annually in the 1990s (78,600 on average). Table I. Annual Wildfires and Acres Burned 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Number of Fires (thousands) Federal 13.8 12.6 15.2 12.5 10.9 FS 7.1 5.7 6.6 5.6 5.3 DOI 6.6 6.8 7.3 7.0 5.3 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: National Interagency Fire Center (N IFC). Notes: Federalincludesfires that began on land managed bythe Forest Service (FS), Department of the Interior (DOI), and other federal agencies (not listed). Nonfederal includes all other lands. Column totals may not add due to rounding. Figure I. Annual Wildfires and Acres Burned (1990-2019) 1. 20 4soA .. . .. . . .... .-, s L burns ' Ffirs Source: National Interagency Fire Center (N IFC). Note: Data reflect wildland fires and acres burned nationwide, including wild land fires on federal and nonfederal lands. Over the past 10 years, there were an average of 64,100 wildfires annually and an average of 6.8 million acres burned annually. In 2019, 50,477 wildfires burned 4.7 million acres nationwide, below the annual average for both statistics. More thanhalf of the acreage burned in 2019 was in Alaska (2.5 million acres), which was the only area that experienced significantly above-average wildfire activity for the year. The 2015 fire seasonwas thelargest onrecord, with 10.1 million acres burned (seeFigure 2); more than half ofthese acres were in Alaska (5.1 million acres). As of June 9, 2020, over20,000 wildfires have burned nearly 560,000 acres this year. Figure 2. Top Five Years with Largest Wildfire Acreage Burned Since 1960 Year Acres buroed (miflions) Numberaf Fires 2015 , 2017 2006N 2007 2012 Source: NIFC. Although the number of fires and acreage burned are indicators of the annuallevelof wildfire activity, they also may be misleading, sincemany fires may occurin areas that are large and relatively undeveloped, with very little impact to human development or conmunities. Acreage burned also does not indicate the severity of the wildfire or the degree of impact to the forest, soils, or any other ecological effects. A A '2 Updated June 9,2020

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most