United States Wildfire ArchiveUnited States flag

Historical wildfire statistics for every state: yearly trends, the largest fires on record, and human impact, compiled from official NIFC records and ICS-209-PLUS incident reports.

381K
Recorded fires since 2014
50
States covered
514
Deaths since 1999
107K
Structures destroyed since 1999

United States wildfire statistics

Filter by year or time range; every count and chart below updates to match.

Show:
Recorded fires
381K
Acres burned
93.5M
~7.2M/yr
Reported deaths
329
ICS-209, 2014–2020
Structures destroyed
71K
Damages recorded
$16.7B
Worst year
2015
12.2M acres

Acres burned by year

6.1M12.2M2014: 3.9M acres20142015: 12.2M acres2016: 4.7M acres20162017: 10.4M acres2018: 7.8M acres20182019: 4.8M acres2020: 10.7M acres20202021: 7.4M acres2022: 7.4M acres20222023: 2.6M acres2024: 8.9M acres20242025: 5.0M acres2026: 7.7M acres2026

Fires recorded by year

21K42K2014: 13K fires20142015: 20K fires2016: 20K fires20162017: 25K fires2018: 23K fires20182019: 25K fires2020: 33K fires20202021: 37K fires2022: 38K fires20222023: 37K fires2024: 41K fires20242025: 42K fires2026: 28K fires2026

Damages by year

All federal ICS-209 impact reports, 1999–2020; real totals run higher.
$2.0B$3.9B2014: $1.4B20142015: $2.1B20152016: $1.8B20162017: $3.5B20172018: $3.1B20182019: $952M20192020: $3.9B2020

Deaths by year

All federal ICS-209 incident reports, 1999–2020.
551092014: 16 deaths20142015: 19 deaths20152016: 37 deaths20162017: 80 deaths20172018: 109 deaths20182019: 5 deaths20192020: 63 deaths2020

Top states by acres burned

2014–2026

Key facts: wildfires in the United States

29K fires per year

The United States has recorded 380,927 wildfires since 2014, burning about 93.5M acres: an average of 29K fires and 7.2M acres per year.

Worst year: 2015

The worst fire year on record in this dataset is 2015, when roughly 12.2M acres burned.

Largest: the Taylor Complex fire

The largest single fire on record here is the Taylor Complex fire (2004) in Alaska, at 1,305,592 acres.

Deadliest: the Camp fire

The deadliest fire in the dataset is the Camp fire (2018) in California, with 85 deaths.

Most fires: California

California records the most fires of any state, averaging 8,098 per year since 2014.

$30.3B in documented damages

Impact reports filed for the largest fires document 514 deaths, 107K structures destroyed, and over $30.3 billion in damages since 1999. True totals run higher because smaller fires are not included.

State explorer

Total recorded fires per region. Tap any region for its live map and full history.

Largest fires on record

The biggest fires we track for each state. Search by name, filter by region or decade, and sort by size, date, deaths, or cost.

232 fires match

  • Taylor Complex
    2004
    Alaska · 1,305,592 acres
    9 structures$16M
  • Smokehouse Creek
    2024
    Texas · 1,054,153 acres
  • August Complex
    2020
    California · 1,032,648 acres
    1 death446 structures$116M
  • Dixie
    2021
    California · 963,309 acres
  • East Amarillo Complex
    2006
    Texas · 907,245 acres
    11 deaths89 structures
  • NW Oklahoma Complex
    2017
    Oklahoma · 779,292 acres
    2 deaths151 structures$3M
  • OKS - Starbuck
    2017
    Oklahoma · 662,700 acres
    $500,000
  • Murphy Complex
    2007
    Idaho · 652,016 acres
    3 structures$13M
  • Morrill
    2026
    Nebraska · 642,029 acres
  • Railbelt Complex
    2009
    Alaska · 631,194 acres
    $19M
  • Eagle Complex
    2004
    Alaska · 614,974 acres
    2 structures$4M
  • Doe
    2020
    California · 589,368 acres
    392 structures$30,000
  • Long Draw
    2012
    Oregon · 557,628 acres
    $4M
  • Big Grass
    2026
    Oregon · 553,972 acres
  • Wallow
    2011
    Arizona · 538,049 acres
    72 structures$109M
  • Boundary Fire
    2004
    Alaska · 537,098 acres
    35 structures$18M
  • Chalkyitsik Complex
    2019
    Alaska · 505,273 acres
    2 structures$7M
  • Biscuit (formerly Florence)
    2002
    Oregon · 499,570 acres
    13 structures$153M
  • Rodeo/Chediski Complex
    2002
    Arizona · 468,638 acres
    31 structures$49M
  • Holloway
    2012
    Nevada · 460,850 acres
    3 structures$9M
  • Mendocino Complex
    2018
    California · 459,123 acres
    1 death280 structures$201M
  • Martin
    2018
    Nevada · 435,569 acres
    1 structure$9M
  • Park
    2024
    California · 429,603 acres
  • Eastern Oklahoma Ia
    2005
    Oklahoma · 413,964 acres
    46 structures$2M
  • Bootleg
    2021
    Oregon · 413,717 acres

Data sources

NIFC WFIGS incident records

Yearly fire counts and acreage per state from the National Interagency Fire Center’s wildland fire incident locations dataset, 2014 to present.

ICS-209-PLUS impact reports

Deaths, structures destroyed, and cost estimates come from the ICS-209-PLUS research dataset, built from official incident status summaries filed between 1999 and 2020. Fires after 2020 may not have impact figures yet.

Keep exploring