| 2024 Washington wildfires | |
|---|---|
 Retreat Fire from Rimrock Lake | |
| Date(s) | March 2024 – present |
| Season | |
← 2023 | |
The 2024 Washington wildfire season is an ongoing series of wildfires that have been burning throughout the U.S. state of Washington.
| 2024 Washington wildfires | |
|---|---|
| Retreat Fire from Rimrock Lake | |
| Date(s) | March 2024 – present |
| Season | |
← 2023 | |
The 2024 Washington wildfire season is an ongoing series of wildfires that have been burning throughout the U.S. state of Washington.
Predictions for the 2024 fire season made by the National Interagency Fire Center in June 2024 included temperatures above normal and precipitation below normal, due to the ENSO transition to a La Niña pattern, resulting in an above normal fire potential for Western Washington in July through September. [1]
On July 10, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources announced a burn ban on its lands that would last until at least September 30. The ban was issued in response to several large, human-caused wildfires amid the statewide drought emergency and drier-than-normal weather across Washington. The largest fire at the time was the Pioneer Fire in the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest near Lake Chelan, which had grown to more than 12,000 acres (4,900 ha). [2]
The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or casualties.
| Name | County | Acres | Start date | Containment date | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer | Chelan | 38,735 | June 8 | October 3 | Town of Stehekin ordered to evacuate (by boat) on the morning of July 28 [3] | [4] |
| Nisqually John | Whitman | 1,221 | June 14 | June | [5] | |
| Beam Road | Yakima | 8,542 | June 15 | June 18 | ||
| Neff Road | Walla Walla | 1,435 | June 15 | June | ||
| Slide Ranch/Mission Road | Yakima | 3,106 | June 22 | July 9 | began on Yakama Reservation, arson | [6] [7] |
| Joe Barker Road | Walla Walla | 1,436 | July 3 | August 14 | ||
| Road 11 | Ferry | 1,422 | July 4 | July | [8] | |
| Cougar Creek | Asotin, Garfield | 24,095 | July 15 | August 29 | [9] | |
| Swawilla | Ferry & Okanogan | 53,462 | July 17 | August 15 | Closed State Route 21 and Keller Ferry, evacuations of Keller and the Buffalo Lake area | [10] |
| Easy | Okanogan | 2,130 | July 17 | Closed North Cascades Highway (SR 20) | [11] [12] | |
| Miners Complex | Snohomish, Skagit | 1,098 | July 19 | [13] | ||
| Bridge Creek | Ferry | 3,998 | July 19 | August 4 | [14] | |
| Davin Road | Franklin | 1,948 | July 21 | July | ||
| Black Canyon | Yakima | 9,211 | July 22 | [15] | ||
| Bighorn | Klickitat | 51,569 | July 22 | July 30 | [16] | |
| Retreat | Yakima | 45,601 | July 23 | August 23 | Closed US-12, caused evacuations and county-wide declaration of emergency | [17] |
| Lower Granite | Garfield | 14,482 | July 29 | August 2 | At least one structure destroyed. | [18] |
| Williams Mine | Skamania County | 13,092 | August 5 | November 1 | People near Trout Lake evacuated; Mount Adams Wilderness and part of the Pacific Crest Trail closed | [19] [20] [21] |
| Calcite Creek | Okanogan | 4,500 | August 5 | Pyrocumulus cloud generated a few miles away in Manning Provincial Park, Canada; NOAA potential fire alerts less than a mile from the border; Pasayten Wilderness trails closed beginning August 6. | [22] [23] [24] | |
| Ruby | Whatcom | 1,336 | August 9 | [25] | ||
| Road 2620 | Jefferson | 445 | August 14 | August 28 | Roads and trails including Mount Jupiter trail closed, homes threatened around Duckabush | [26] |
| Stayman | Chelan | 3,118 | August 20 | August 24 | [27] | |
| Goosmus | Ferry | 1,738 | September 25 | October 4 | [28] | |
| Long Hollow | Whitman | 4,000 | September 26 | September 27 | [29] | |
| Jack Wells | Okanogan | 8,373 | October 1 | October 21 | [30] |
In the summer of 2013, there were several major wildfires in Colorado in the United States. During June and July, record high temperatures and dry conditions fueled the fires all across the state. By July 24, 570 structures had been destroyed and 2 people died. Below is a list of the major fires of the year.
The 2015 wildfire season was the largest in Washington state history, with more than one million acres burning across the state from June to September. As many as 3,000 firefighters including 800 Washington National Guard members were deployed to fight the fires. The 17th Field Artillery Brigade of the United States Army also deployed 200 soldiers from Joint Base Lewis–McChord to help fight the fires.
In 2016, a total of 7,349 fires had burned an area 669,534 acres (2,709.51 km2) in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The 2018 Washington wildfire season officially began June 1, 2018. A statewide state of emergency was declared by Governor Jay Inslee on July 31.
The Mendocino Complex Fire was a large complex of wildfires that burned in northern California for more than three months in 2018. It consisted of two wildfires, the River Fire and Ranch Fire, which burned in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, and Glenn Counties in California, with the Ranch Fire being California's single-largest recorded wildfire at the time until the August Complex fire in 2020. The Ranch Fire burned eight miles northeast of Ukiah, and the River Fire burned six miles north of Hopland, to the south of the larger Ranch Fire. First reported on July 27, 2018, both fires burned a combined total of 459,123 acres (1,858 km2), before they were collectively 100% contained on September 18, though hotspots persisted until the complex was fully brought under control on January 4, 2019. The Ranch Fire alone burned 410,203 acres (1,660 km2), making it the largest wildfire in modern California history at the time until the August Complex fire that occurred in 2020. The Ranch Fire also surpassed the size of the 315,577-acre Rush Fire, which burned across California and Nevada, as well as the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, which was previously believed to have been California's all-time largest wildfire.
The 2019 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned across the U.S. state of California as part of the 2019 wildfire season. By the end of the year, according to Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, 7,860 fires were recorded, totaling an estimated of 259,823 acres of burned land. These fires caused 22 injuries, 3 fatalities, and damaged or destroyed 732 structures. The 2019 California fire season was less active than that of the two previous years, which set records for acreage, destructiveness, and deaths.
The 2020 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2020. The season was a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfires. By September, wildfires had burned over 713,000 acres, 181 homes had been lost, and one death occurred as a result. The 2020 fire season saw more individual fires than in any other recorded year.
The North Complex Fire was a massive wildfire complex that burned in the Plumas National Forest in Northern California in the counties of Plumas and Butte. Twenty-one fires were started by lightning on August 17, 2020; by September 5, all the individual fires had been put out with the exception of the Claremont and Bear Fires, which merged on that date, and the Sheep Fire, which was then designated a separate incident. On September 8, strong winds caused the Bear/Claremont Fire to explode in size, rapidly spreading to the southwest. On September 8, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls were immediately evacuated at 3:15 p.m. PDT with no prior warning. By September 9, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls had been leveled, with few homes left standing. The fire threatened the city of Oroville, before its westward spread was stopped. The fire killed 16 people and injured more than 100. The complex burned an estimated 318,935 acres (129,068 ha), and was 100% contained on December 3. The fire was managed by the U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with Cal Fire, with the primary incident base in Quincy. The North Complex Fire is the eighth-largest in California's history, and was the deadliest fire in the 2020 California wildfire season.
The Western United States experienced a series of major wildfires in 2020. Severe August thunderstorms ignited numerous wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington, followed in early September by additional ignitions across the West Coast. Fanned by strong, gusty winds and fueled by hot, dry terrains, many of the fires exploded and coalesced into record-breaking megafires, burning more than 10.2 million acres of land, mobilizing tens of thousands of firefighters, razing over ten thousand buildings, and killing at least 37 people. The fires caused over $19.884 billion in damages, including $16.5 billion in property damage and $3.384 billion in fire suppression costs. Climate change and poor forest management practices contributed to the severity of the wildfires.
The 2020 Lassen County wildfire season included seven large wildfires that burned entirely or in part in Lassen County. A total of 203,296 acres (82,271 ha) of land was burned in Lassen County, making it one of the larger clusters of fires in the 2020 California wildfire season.
The 2021 Arizona wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned across the state of Arizona, United States. Wildfires across the state burned 524,428 acres (212,228 ha) of land in at least 1,773 fires throughout the state, fueled in part by a drought, hot temperatures, and thunderstorms producing dry lightning. At one point in late June, over 20 active wildfires were burning across the state.
The 2021 New Mexico wildfire season began in February 7, 2021. As of July 7, there have been at least 363 fires across the state that have burned at least 121,277 acres (49,079 ha).
The 2024 Oregon wildfire season is an ongoing series of wildfires that have been burning throughout the U.S. state of Oregon.
The 2024 Colorado wildfire season is an ongoing series of wildfires that have been burning throughout the U.S. state of Colorado.
The Swawilla Fire was a large wildfire in Ferry and Okanogan counties, located in the U.S. state of Washington. The fire started on July 17, 2024, and was declared 98% contained on August 9. It was the sixth fire to burn more than 1,000 acres as part of the 2024 Washington wildfire season, and was the largest fire of the entire season, at 53,343 acres covered.
The Basin Fire was a wildfire that burned through Fresno County in Central California between June 26 and July 20, 2024. It prompted numerous evacuations, and was the fourth fire to burn more than 14,000 acres as part of the 2024 California wildfire season.
The Boise Fire was a wildfire that burned in the Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California. It began on August 9, and burned 12,967 acres of land before being contained on September 20.
The fire, estimated at 3,000 acres, was reported in the Mount Adams Wilderness after a lightning storm passed over the area.
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