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Wildfires are difficult to prevent and can be as destructive as hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. Wildfires can move and burn large areas at an incredible speed, leading to significant damage to both natural areas and property. In the United States, they are becoming more frequent and intense in some areas, and proximity to wildfires may reduce property values. In addition, wildfires can lead to significant loss of life, their smoke and particulate pollution can negatively impact human health, and their damage to infrastructure and services can cause personal and economic disruption.
Wildfires are unplanned fires often in natural areas, including forests, grasslands, and prairies. Unplanned wildfires start from lightning or human activity, including unattended campfires, debris burning, sparks from vehicles, equipment use and malfunctions, power lines, discarded cigarettes, and intentional acts of arson. The Congressional Research Service estimates that there were an average of 61,410 wildfires impacting 7.2 million acres per year between 2013 and 2022. Further analysis revealed that between 2018 and 2023, nearly 90% were caused by humans.
Prescribed burns (sometimes also referred to as controlled burns), on the other hand, are designed to meet specific forest management goals that include reducing the volume of combustible material and minimizing the spread of insects and disease. Prescribed burns can be used to control the spread of unplanned wildfires and reduce the intensity of unplanned wildfires when they do occur.
Wildfires can spread quickly and cause devastating damage to wildlife, natural areas, and communities. These types of fires can be nearly as impossible to prevent and as difficult to control as hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. In January of this year, 17 fires in Los Angeles and San Diego counties killed at least 29 people, destroyed more than 18,000 structures, and burned 90 square miles. In August 2023, broken power lines started the Laihana fire on Maui, Hawaii, the deadliest fire in over 100 years, which destroyed the town of Laihana and killed 102 people. The 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, also caused by electrical transmission lines, burned at a rate of roughly 80 football fields per minute, caused at least 90 deaths, and destroyed 18,000 structures.
From 2000 to 2024, an average of about 70,000 wildfires have burned over 7 million acres of public and private land in the US each year. In 2024, nearly 9 million acres burned. Between 2017 and 2020, an average of over 14,000 structures burned each year in wildfires, of which about 60% were residential homes. Most wildfires are small, and only about 1% become raging destructive fires known as conflagrations. Of the 1.6 million wildfires that occurred between 2000 and 2023, 254 burned more than 100,000 acres, and 16 burned more than 500,000 acres.
In the last 30 years, both the number of fires and the number of acres burned have increased. The average number of acres burned since 2000 is more than double the average number of acres burned in the 1990s, including peaks of 10 million acres in 2020 and nearly 9 million in 2024. Warmer temperatures, including extreme heat; more fuel from tree die-off caused by drought, insects, and disease; earlier snowmelt; stronger winds; and less precipitation are expected to continue to increase the likelihood that fires will burn more intensely. Southern California experienced the driest nine months on record before the fires in January of 2025. This was combined with hurricane-force Santa Ana winds that reached 100 mph. According to the French climate research group, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, the significant human-caused temperature increases, 20% increased wind speeds, and a 15% reduction in precipitation were mainly responsible for these fires. Fires also have the potential to generate their own wind, and under extreme conditions, this can accelerate the spread of a wildfire.
While California has suffered the brunt of US wildfire destruction in recent years, Idaho and Alaska both saw more acreage burned between 1992 and 2018 than all other states. Nationally, the majority of wildfires occur in the western and southern states. The map below shows the number of wildfires per fire weather zone that burned more than 10 acres over a 34-year period between 1980 and 2014. Fire weather zones are small county-sized regions with similar climate, weather, and terrain characteristics.
Source: 2025 FEMA Wildfire Risk
Economic losses from wildfires in the US have also increased. From 2007-2016, the average annual insured losses from wildfires were about $9 billion (inflation-adjusted to 2017 dollars), and from 2017 to 2020, the average losses increased to over $15 billion per year. However, those figures understate the costs of wildfires. Insured losses only represent a fraction of the total economic impact of wildfires. For example, AccuWeather estimates the total cost of the 2025 Los Angeles fires to be between $250 and $275 billion and researchers at UC Irvine estimated a total economic loss of about $150 billion from the 2018 wildfires in California --primarily from the health effects of air pollution and disruption of economic supply chains. In addition to direct losses, a 2023 study estimates that wildfires cost the US between $394 and $893 billion per year when factors like diminished real estate value, health impacts from smoke, and watershed pollution were considered.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends several steps to prepare for wildfires, including having an evacuation route and emergency supplies, setting up a clean room to safely keep smoke out, and monitoring local wildfire activity. Multiple evacuation routes should be planned and practiced in advance.
Along with food, water, and medication, the CDC recommends P100 or N95 respirator masks to protect your lungs from particulates found in wildfire smoke. In some parts of California and the West, the average number of days per year with poor air quality from smoke is over 140. In these areas, a home HEPA filtration system that filters 99.97% of airborne particles can help maintain clean indoor air. A clean room should be large enough to fit everyone in your household, sealed off from the outside, set up with fans or air conditioners to stay cool, and equipped with an air filter system.
In addition, the EPA has specific recommendations for protecting livestock from wildfires, including an evacuation plan with trailer resources and training all livestock to load onto trailers, temporary livestock shelter locations, and an evacuation kit with feed and other supplies for 7-10 days, medical records, and animal care instructions. If livestock cannot be evacuated, they recommend leaving animals in a predetermined cleared area with a lower risk of fire, leaving gates and fences open, leaving food and water for 48-72 hours, and alerting neighbors and first responders to be on the lookout for your animals.
An analysis of over 50,000 single-residence homes in southern California found that close proximity (within 1.75 miles) to a wildfire reduced sale prices by 10%, and close proximity to a second fire reduced sale prices by a total of nearly 23%. Similar conclusions were made by researchers in Colorado, where prices dropped about 15% within 2 miles of a wildfire, and in New Mexico, where prices decreased between 3-11%.
Determine the risk of fire in your community. The US Department of Agriculture provides a wildfire risk ranking by state as well as community level. For example, California, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Utah are all over 90% more likely than all other states to experience wildfires, whereas Maine, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia are all below 5%. For homes in an area with a risk of wildfires, FEMA recommends ensuring that structures have roofs with a Class A fire rating and are clear of leaves, needles, and other debris; vents and stilt foundations are screened with ⅛” metal mesh; combustible gates and fences are 5 feet or more from home; windows consisting of tempered glass; and there are at least 6 inches of vertical space between the ground and siding.
In addition, they recommend establishing three zones extending to 100 feet from a home. The nearest zone extends 5 feet from a home and would require the most vigilance, but in general, all zones should be modified by treating, clearing, or reducing natural and manmade fuels to slow the spread of wildfire.
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