Facts + Statistics: Wildfires

Key Facts

According to federal data cited by the National Park Service, humans cause about 85 percent of all wildfires yearly in the United States.
The Annual 2022 Wildfires Report from the National Centers for Environmental Information indicates that over 7.5 million acres of wildland were consumed by fire that year.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, Texas leads the country with the most wildfires and Alaska leads the county with the most acres burned.  California-specific charts below on the Top 10 largest, most destructive, and deadliest wildfires.

Annual Number of Acres Burned in Wildland Fires, 1980-2022

number_of_acres_burned_in_wildfires_1980-2022.gif

*2004 fires and acres do not include state lands for North Carolina.

Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

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Wildfires By State, 2022

State	Number of fires	Number of acres burned
Alabama	2,710	40,975
Alaska	595	3,110,976
Arizona	1,432	124,165
Arkansas	1,903	39,028
California	7,884	309,287
Colorado	835	45,732
Connecticut	150	347
Delaware	7	79
District of Columbia	0	0
Florida	2,784	164,774
Georgia	3,621	25,017
Hawaii	5	25,053
Idaho	1,088	436,733
Illinois	32	298
Indiana	49	1,643
Iowa	7	288
Kansas	67	84,015
Kentucky	1,280	59,199
Louisiana	1,259	24,475
Maine	730	425
Maryland	117	3,139
Massachusetts	1,192	1,756
Michigan	376	3,522
Minnesota	713	3,715
Mississippi	1,980	53,170
Missouri	136	4,968
Montana	2,087	137,509
Nebraska	568	76,534
Nevada	506	58,402
New Hampshire	103	381
New Jersey	1,165	15,532
New Mexico	748	859,906
New York	162	1,313
North Carolina	6,222	28,851
North Dakota	111	1,509
Ohio	724	3,063
Oklahoma	2,811	385,133
Oregon	2,117	456,082
Pennsylvania	951	2,588
Puerto Rico	0	0
Rhode Island	76	44
South Carolina	22	677
South Dakota	527	42,148
Tennessee	1,225	15,059
Texas	12,571	671,800
Utah	945	27,245
Vermont	86	83
Virginia	558	9,956
Washington	1,492	173,659
West Virginia	893	20,275
Wisconsin	923	881
Wyoming	443	25,766
United States (1)	68,988	7,577,175

(1) Includes Puerto Rico. Totals for the United States do not match totals shown elsewhere by the National Interagency Fire Center due to the use of different exhibits.

Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

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Homes At Risk For Extreme Wildfires, By State, 2023

Rank	State	Number of housing units
1	California	1,279,214
2	Colorado	332,716
3	Texas	233,434
4	Oregon	124,401
5	Arizona	121,761
6	New Mexico	115,790
7	Idaho	100,233
8	Montana	84,370
9	Utah	68,135
10	Washington	54,162
11	South Dakota	24,638
12	Nevada	22,802
13	Wyoming	15,308
14	Oklahoma	1,499

Source: CoreLogic®, a property data and analytics company.

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Top 10 States For Wildfires Ranked By Number Of Fires And By Number Of Acres Burned, 2022

Rank	State	Number of fires	Rank	State	Number of acres burned
1	Texas	12,571	1	Alaska	3,110,976
2	California	7,884	2	New Mexico	859,906
3	North Carolina	6,222	3	Texas	671,800
4	Georgia	3,621	4	Oregon	456,082
5	Oklahoma	2,811	5	Idaho	436,733
6	Florida	2,784	6	Oklahoma	385,133
7	Alabama	2,710	7	California	309,287
8	Oregon	2,117	8	Washington	173,659
9	Montana	2,087	9	Florida	164,774
10	Mississippi	1,980	10	Montana	137,509

Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

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Top 10 Costliest Wildland Fires In The United States (1)

($ millions)

			Estimated insured loss
Rank	Year	Name	Dollars when occurred	In 2022 dollars (2)
1	2018	Camp Fire	$10,000	$11,836
2	2017	Tubbs Fire	8,700	10,522
3	2018	Woolsey Fire	4,200	4,971
4	1991	Oakland Fire (Tunnel)	1,700	3,691
5	2017	Atlas Fire	3,000	3,628
6	2020	Glass Fire	2,950	3,381
7	2020	CZU Lightning Complex Fire	2,500	2,865
8	2017	Thomas Fire	2,250	2,723
9	2021	Marshall Fire	2,500	2,675
10	2020	LNU Lightning Complex Fire	2,250	2,579

(1) Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program. Includes events that occurred through 2022. All fires on this list occurred in California except Marshall Fire was in Colorado.
Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ranked on losses in 2022 dollars. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2023.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Largest California Wildfires (1)

Rank	Fire name (cause)	Date	County	Acres	Structures	Deaths
1	August Complex (Lightning)	August 2020	Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama, Glenn, Lake and Colusa	1,032,648	935	1
2	Dixie (Powerlines)	July 2021	Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama	963,309	1,311	1
3	Mendocino Complex (Human related)	July 2018	Colusa, Lake, Mendocino and Glenn	459,123	280	1
4	SCU Lightning Complex (Lightning)	August 2020	Stanislaus, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Joaquin	396,625	225	0
5	Creek (Undetermined)	September 2020	Fresno and Madera	379,895	858	0
6	LNU Lightning Complex (Lightning/arson)	August 2020	Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo, Lake and Colusa	363,220	1,491	6
7	North Complex (Lightning)	August 2020	Butte, Plumas and Yuba	318,893	2,352	15
8	Thomas (Powerlines)	December 2017	Ventura and Santa Barbara	281,893	1,060	2
9	Cedar (Human related)	October 2003	San Diego	273,246	2,820	15
10	Rush (Lightning)	August 2012	Lassen	271,911 (2)	0	0

(1) As of October 2022.
(2) In additon to the 271,911 acres in California, there were an addition 43,666 acres in Nevada.

Source: Calfire.

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Top 10 Most Destructive California Wildfires (1)

Rank	Fire name and cause	Date	County	Acres	Structures (2)	Deaths
1	Camp Fire (Powerlines)	November 2018	Butte	153,336	18,804	85
2	Tubbs (Electrical))	October 2017	Napa and Sonoma	36,807	5,636	22
3	Tunnel - Oakland Hills (Rekindle)	October 1991	Alameda	1,600	2,900	25
4	Cedar (Human related)	October 2003	San Diego	273,246	2,820	15
5	North Complex (Lightning)	August 2020	Butte, Plumas and Yuba	318,935	2,352	15
6	Valley (Electrical)	September 2015	Lake, Napa and Sonoma	76,067	1,958	4
7	Witch (Powerlines)	October 2007	San Diego	197,990	1,650	2
8	Woolsey (Electrical)	November 2018	Ventura	96,949	1,643	3
9	Carr (Human related)	July 2018	Shasta County, Trinity County	229,651	1,614	8
10	Glass (Undetermined)	September 2020	Napa and Sonoma	67,484	1,520	0

(1) As of October 2022.
(2) "Structures" include homes, outbuildings (barns, garages, sheds, etc) and commercial properties destroyed. This list does not include fire jurisdiction. These are the Top 20 regardless of whether they were state, federal, or local responsibility.

Source: Calfire.

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Top 10 Deadliest California Wildfires (1)

Rank	Fire name and cause	Date	County	Acres	Structures	Deaths
1	Camp Fire (Power lines)	November 2018	Butte	153,336	18,804	85
2	Griffith Park (Unknown)	October 1933	Los Angeles	47	0	29
3	Tunnel - Oakland Hills (Rekindle)	October 1991	Alameda	1,600	2,900	25
4	Tubbs (Electrical)	October 2017	Napa and Sonoma	36,807	5,636	22
5	North Complex (Lightning)	August 2020	Butte, Plumas and Yuba	318,935	2,852	15
6	Cedar (Human related)	October 2003	San Diego	273,246	2,820	15
7	Rattlesnake (Arson)	July 1953	Glenn	1,340	0	15
8	Loop (Unknown)	November 1966	Los Angeles	2,028	0	12
9	Hauser Creek (Human related)	October 1943	San Diego	13,145	0	11
10	Inaja (Human related)	November 1956	San Diego	43,904	0	11