National Wildfire Overview
| Stat | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 58,403 | wildfires recorded in the U.S. in 2023 | — National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), 2024 |
| 2.7M | acres burned by U.S. wildfires in 2023 — below the 10-year average of ~7M acres | — NIFC, 2024 |
| ~7M | average acres burned annually in the U.S. over the past decade (2014–2023) | — NIFC / U.S. Forest Service, 2024 |
| 10.1M | acres burned in 2020 — the highest single-year total in modern U.S. history | — NIFC, 2021 |
| 1970s → now | U.S. wildfire season has extended by approximately 78 days (2.5 months) since the 1970s due to earlier snowmelt and drier conditions | — U.S. Forest Service, 2022 |
| 70,000+ | U.S. communities are at risk of wildfire damage in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) | — U.S. Forest Service, 2023 |
| 46 million | U.S. homes are in or adjacent to fire-prone wildland areas | — Insurance Information Institute / U.S. Forest Service, 2023 |
Acres Burned & Fire Frequency
| 2x | the average annual acreage burned by U.S. wildfires from 2000–2023 compared to the 1990s | — NIFC / U.S. Forest Service, 2023 |
| 84% | of U.S. wildfires are caused by human activity (debris burning, equipment use, arson, power lines, campfires) | — PNAS / U.S. Forest Service, 2017 — remains the most cited figure through 2023 |
| 16% | of U.S. wildfires are caused by lightning — though lightning-caused fires often burn more acres due to remote locations | — U.S. Forest Service, 2023 |
| Stat | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 60,000–90,000 | typical annual wildfire count in the U.S. (10-year average) | — NIFC, 2024 |
| $4.4B | federal firefighting expenditures in fiscal year 2022 — the highest on record at that time | — U.S. Forest Service, 2022 |
Homes & Structures Destroyed
| Stat | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 3,569 | structures destroyed by U.S. wildfires in 2023 | — NIFC, 2024 |
| 10,488 | structures destroyed by U.S. wildfires in 2022 — a higher-than-average year | — NIFC, 2023 |
| 18,804 | structures destroyed in California alone during the 2018 fire season (Camp Fire + others) | — CAL FIRE, 2019 |
| 13,900+ | structures destroyed in Los Angeles area wildfires of January 2025 — Palisades and Eaton fires | — CAL FIRE / CAL OES, 2025 |
| ~5,000/yr | average U.S. structures destroyed by wildfire annually (10-year average including outlier years) | — NIFC, 2024 |
Fatalities & Injuries
| Stat | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | civilian deaths from U.S. wildfires in 2023 | — NIFC, 2024 |
| 85 | civilian deaths from the Camp Fire (Paradise, CA) in 2018 — the deadliest U.S. wildfire in 100 years | — CAL FIRE, 2018 |
| 29 | civilian deaths in the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires (Palisades + Eaton fires) | — Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, 2025 |
| ~100 | firefighter and civilian deaths combined in an average high wildfire year (including hotshot crews, air attack, and evacuees) | — NIFC / USFS, 2023 |
| 3x | higher lung disease and respiratory hospitalization rates recorded in communities during and after major wildfire smoke events | — CDC, 2022 |
Economic Costs
| Stat | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $21.5B | economic losses from California wildfires in 2018 alone | — NOAA NCEI, 2019 |
| $150B+ | estimated insured losses from the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires — potentially the costliest wildfire event in U.S. history | — Morningstar DBRS / Insurance industry estimates, 2025 |
| $3.7B | average annual U.S. wildfire economic losses (2014–2023) | — NOAA NCEI, 2024 |
| PG&E: $25.5B | settlement paid by Pacific Gas and Electric for wildfire damages caused by its equipment (2019–2020) | — PG&E / California courts, 2020 |
| $76B | estimated total U.S. wildfire-related health costs per year due to smoke exposure (hospitalizations, premature death, productivity loss) | — Environmental Health Perspectives, 2020 |
California Wildfire Statistics
| Stat | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 13 of 20 | of California’s 20 largest wildfires on record have occurred since 2000 | — CAL FIRE, 2023 |
| 2.2M | acres burned by California wildfires in 2020 — a new state record at the time | — CAL FIRE, 2021 |
| 760,000 | acres burned by the August Complex fire in 2020 — California’s largest single wildfire ever recorded | — CAL FIRE, 2020 |
| $1B+ | annual CAL FIRE budget for fire prevention and suppression — doubled since 2020 | — California Department of Finance, 2023 |
| ~400,000 | Californians were under evacuation orders or warnings at the peak of the January 2025 Los Angeles fires | — Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Services, 2025 |
Evacuation Trends
| 500,000+ | Americans evacuated from wildfire-threatened areas in 2020 — a record driven by California, Oregon, and Colorado fires | — FEMA, 2021 |
| 44% | of people in wildfire-prone areas say they do not have a wildfire evacuation plan | — American Red Cross, 2022 |
| 15 minutes | or less — how quickly residents in the Camp Fire (2018) had to evacuate; many had no prior warning | — CAL FIRE / ABC News, 2018 |
| 7% | of people under evacuation orders during major wildfires refuse to leave — endangering themselves and rescue personnel | — FEMA / Behavioral research studies, 2022 |