The Esperanza Fire was a large, wind-driven, arson-caused wildfire that started on October 26, 2006, in a river wash near Cabazon, California, United States, west of Palm Springs. By October 29, 2006, it had burned over 41,173 acres (166.62 km2) and was 85% contained. On October 30, 2006, the fire was fully contained.
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 collectively formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to drought conditions and increasing winds, combining into several large conflagrations which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park was closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km2), or 36 percent of the park, burned at varying levels of severity.
The 2009 California wildfires were a series of 9,159 wildfires that were active in the US state of California, during the year 2009. The fires burned more than 422,147 acres of land from early February through late November, due to Red Flag conditions, destroying hundreds of structures, injuring 134 people, and killing four. The wildfires also caused at least US$134.48 million in damage. Although the fires burned many different regions of California in August, the month was especially notable for several very large fires which burned in Southern California, despite being outside of the normal fire season for that region.
The Bastrop County Complex fire was a conflagration that engulfed parts of Bastrop County, Texas, in September and October 2011. The wildfire was the costliest and most destructive wildfire in Texas history and among the costliest in U.S. history, destroying 1,696 structures and causing an estimated $350 million in insured property damage. An exceptional drought, accompanied by record-high temperatures, affected Texas for much of 2011. Vegetation consequently became severely parched throughout the state, and over the year an unprecedented amount of land in the state was burned by numerous wildfires. In early September 2011, the presence of Tropical Storm Lee to the east produced strong northerly winds over the state, exacerbating the preexisting dry weather to produce critical fire conditions. On the afternoon of September 4, 2011, three separate fires ignited in the wildland–urban interface east of Bastrop, Texas, after strong winds caused by the nearby tropical storm snapped trees onto power lines. Within 48 hours, the fires merged into one blaze that quickly consumed parts of Bastrop State Park and parts of the Lost Pines Forest, as well as homes in nearby subdivisions. Most of the conflagration's spread and destruction occurred within a week of ignition, as the forward advance of the wildfire mostly stopped after September 7. The wildfire was largely contained in September, though the firebreak was briefly breached in early October. On October 10, the Bastrop County Complex was declared controlled, and the fire was declared extinguished on October 29 after 55 days of burning within the fire perimeter.
Wildfires are outdoor fires that occur in the wilderness or other vast spaces. Other common names associated with wildfires are brushfire and forest fire. Since wildfires can occur anywhere on the planet, except for Antarctica, they pose a threat to civilizations and wildlife alike. In terms of emergency management, wildfires can be particularly devastating. Given their ability to destroy large areas of entire ecosystems, there must be a contingency plan in effect to be as prepared as possible in case of a wildfire and to be adequately prepared to handle the aftermath of one as well.
The Long Draw Fire was a wildfire started by a lightning strike on July 8, 2012 that burned 557,648 acres (2,257 km2) acres in southeastern Oregon, in the Western United States. It was Oregon's largest wildfire since the 1865 Silverton Fire which burned over 1 million acres.
The 2012 Oklahoma wildfires were a series of wildfires which impacted areas throughout the state of Oklahoma. Starting earlier in the year, a widespread drought caused many areas to be exposed to wildfires.
The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of firefighters within the Prescott Fire Department. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived —he was posted as a lookout on the fire and was not with the others when the fire overtook them. The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people, and the deadliest wildland fire for U.S. firefighters since the 1933 Griffith Park fire, which killed 29 "impromptu" civilian firefighters drafted on short notice to help battle the Los Angeles area fire.
The Rim Fire was a massive wildfire that started in a remote canyon in the Stanislaus National Forest in California's Tuolumne County. The fire ignited on August 17, 2013, amid the 2013 California wildfire season, and burned 257,314 acres in largely remote areas of the Sierra Nevada, including a large portion of Yosemite National Park. The Rim Fire was fully contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013, after a nine-week suppression effort by firefighters. Due to a lack of winter rains, some logs smoldered in the interior portion of the fire footprint throughout the winter, and more than a year passed before the fire was declared totally extinguished in November 2014.
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.
The Barry Point Fire was a wildfire that burned over 92,977 acres (376.26 km2) of Oregon and California forest land during the summer of 2012. The fire began on 5 August 2012, the result of a lightning strike. The fire consumed public forest and rangeland as well as private forest and grazing land located in Lake County, Oregon and Modoc County, California. The public lands affected by the fire are administered by the United States Forest Service and the Oregon Department of Forestry. The largest part of the private land was owned by the Collins Timber Company. At the peak of the firefighting effort, there were 1,423 personnel working on the fire. It took 22 days to fully contain the fire and then an additional three weeks to mop it up.
The San Gabriel Complex Fire was a wildfire that burned in 2016 in the Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was the combination of two separate wildfires: the Reservoir Fire and the Fish Fire, both of which ignited on June 20.
The Cinder Butte Fire was a wildfire that burned over 52,000 acres (210 km2) of Oregon rangeland during the summer of 2017. The fire began on 2 August 2017. It was determined to be human-caused since lightning was not present in the area prior to the initial fire report. The fire consumed rangeland vegetation and juniper woodlands in the area east of Glass Buttes in northern Lake County and then spread into northwestern Harney County. Most of the burned area was on public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Firefighters battled the blaze for over a week. At the peak of the firefighting effort, there were 496 firefighters working on the Cinder Butte Fire.
The 2018 Washington wildfire season officially began June 1, 2018. A statewide state of emergency was declared by Governor Jay Inslee on July 31.
In February 2019, major forest fires broke out in numerous places across the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka state in India. The National Remote Sensing Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carried out an assessment of the total area affected by the fire. On 25 February 2019, it estimated the extent of burnt area to be about 10,920 acres in the last five days from 21 February 2019.
The 2023 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2023 in the US state of Washington.
The 1992 Fountain Fire was a large and destructive wildfire in Shasta County, California. The fire ignited on August 20 in an act of probable but unattributed arson, and was quickly driven northeast by strong winds. It outpaced firefighters for two days, exhibiting extreme behavior such as long-range spot fires, crown fire runs, and pyrocumulonimbus clouds with dry lightning. The fire was contained after burning for nine days, though work to strengthen and repair fire lines continued for more than two months.
The Frye Fire was a wildfire that burned 48,443 acres (19,604 ha) in Graham County, Arizona, United States, from June 7 to September 1, 2017. The fire was ignited by a lightning strike on Mount Graham, within the Coronado National Forest, and spread rapidly until it was mostly contained on July 12. The Frye Fire destroyed three buildings, briefly threatened the Mount Graham International Observatory, cost $26 million to contain and suppress, and involved more than 800 firefighters. There were no fatalities, but 63 firefighters were quarantined as a result of a strep throat outbreak.
The 2001 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned throughout the U.S. state of California during 2001. According to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection statistics, 9,317 fires burned a total of 377,340 acres.
The Mount Leona Fire was a wildfire in Ferry County, Washington, in the Kettle River Range, east of Curlew Lake. It was ignited on August 13, 2001, by lightning strikes from a major regional storm that crossed much of eastern Washington. By August 18, the fire was 5% contained, and by August 27, it was 55% due to favorable weather. In the aftermath of the fire, a large-scale timber salvage was attempted; however, only a small fraction was eventually harvested, with economic impacts reported from the failure of the salvage.
