| Wildfires in 2024 | |
|---|---|
 The Little Yamsay Fire burning in Oregon | |
| Date(s) | January–May 2024 |
| Season | |
← 2023 | |
Wildfires in 2024 include:
| Wildfires in 2024 | |
|---|---|
| The Little Yamsay Fire burning in Oregon | |
| Date(s) | January–May 2024 |
| Season | |
← 2023 | |
Wildfires in 2024 include:
| Asia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe |
| ||||
| North America |
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| South America | |||||
| Oceania |
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Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters who provide an initial attack response on remote wildfires. They are inserted at the site of the fire by parachute. This allows firefighters to access remote fires in their early stages without needing to hike long distances carrying equipment and supplies. Traditional terrestrial crews can use only what they can carry and often require hours and days to reach fire on foot. The benefits of smokejumping include the speed at which firefighters can reach a burn site, the broad range of fires a single crew can reach by aircraft, and the larger equipment payloads that can be delivered to a fire compared to pedestrian crews.
Smokey Bear is an American campaign and advertising icon of the U.S. Forest Service in the Wildfire Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history to date. The Ad Council, the Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters, in partnership with the creative agency FCB, use the character of Smokey Bear to educate the public about the dangers of unplanned human-caused wildfires.
The Biscuit Fire was a massive wildfire in 2002 that burned nearly 500,000 acres in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States. The fire was named after Biscuit Creek in southern Oregon. The Biscuit Fire was the second-largest wildfire in the modern post-1900 history of Oregon. Oregon's largest fires are actually believed to have taken place in the 1800s. The Silverton Fire of 1865 is listed as Oregon's largest at over 900,000 acres. The Biscuit Fire area is subject to warm, dry winds known as the Brookings effect, driven by high pressure over the Great Basin. The fire re-burned portions of the 1987 Silver Fire, and much of its area was re-burned in the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire.
Possum Kingdom Lake, is a reservoir on the Brazos River located primarily in Palo Pinto County Texas. It was the first water supply reservoir constructed in the Brazos River basin. The lake has an area of approximately 17,000 acres (6,900 ha) with 310 miles (500 km) of shoreline. It holds 750,000 acre-feet (930,000,000 m3) of water with 550,000 acre-feet (680,000,000 m3) available for water supply.
A fire shelter is a safety device of last resort used by wildland firefighters when trapped by wildfires. While such a shelter cannot withstand sustained contact with flames, it can protect a firefighter's life in a short-lived grass fire. Furthermore, it is designed to reflect radiant heat, protect against convective heat, and trap breathable air — most firefighters' deaths are from inhaling hot gases — so that firefighters can survive in non-burning areas surrounded by intense fire for more than an hour.
The Station Fire was the largest wildfire of the 2009 California wildfire season, as well as the largest wildfire in the history of Los Angeles County. It burned in the Angeles National Forest, igniting on August 26, 2009, near the U.S. Forest Service Angeles Station 11 ranger station on the Angeles Crest Highway, and burned through October 16. It threatened 12,000 structures in the National Forest and the nearby communities of La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Juniper Hills, Littlerock and Altadena, as well as the Sunland and Tujunga neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles. Many of these areas faced mandatory evacuations as the flames drew near, but as of September 6, all evacuation orders were lifted. The Station Fire burned on the slopes of Mount Wilson, threatening numerous television, radio and cellular telephone antennas on the summit, as well as the Mount Wilson Observatory, which includes several historically significant telescopes and multimillion-dollar astronomical facilities operated by UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley and Georgia State University.
The 2011 Texas wildfires were a series of destructive wildfires in Texas that occurred in the 2011 fire season. During 2011 in Texas, around 31,453 fires had burned 4,000,000 acres or 16,190 square kilometres, 2,947 homes, and over 2,700 other structures. 47.3% of all acreage burned in the United States in 2011 was burned in Texas. The fires had been particularly severe due to the 2011 Southern US drought that covered the state, and was exacerbated by the unusual convergence of strong winds, unseasonably warm temperatures, and low humidity.
The 2010–2013 Southern United States and Mexico drought was a severe to extreme drought that plagued the Southern United States, including parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Oklahoma; the Southwestern States, including Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona; as well as large parts of Mexico, in a three-year pattern from 2010 to 2013.
Wildfires can happen in many places in the United States, especially during droughts, but are most common in the Western United States and Florida. They may be triggered naturally, most commonly by lightning, or by human activity like unextinguished smoking materials, faulty electrical equipment, overheating automobiles, or arson.
A megafire is an exceptional fire that devastates a large area. They are characterised by their intensity, size, duration and uncontrollable scale. There is no precise scientific definition.
The August Complex was a massive wildfire that burned in the Coast Range of Northern California, in Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Tehama, Trinity, and Shasta Counties. The complex originated as 38 separate fires started by lightning strikes on August 16–17, 2020. Four of the largest fires, the Doe, Tatham, Glade, and Hull fires, had burned together by August 30. On September 9, the Doe Fire, the main fire of the August Complex, surpassed the 2018 Mendocino Complex to become both the single-largest wildfire and the largest fire complex in recorded California history. On September 10, the combined Doe Fire also merged with the Elkhorn Fire and the Hopkins Fire, growing substantially in size. By the time it was extinguished on November 12, the August Complex fire had burned a total of 1,032,648 acres (417,898 ha), or 1,614 square miles (4,180 km2), about 1% of California's 100 million acres of land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
The 2021 wildfire season involves wildfires on multiple continents. Even at halfway through the calendar year, wildfire seasons were larger than in previous history, with increased extreme weather caused by climate change strengthening the intensity and scale of fires.
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 Smokehouse Creek Fire was a record-breaking wildfire affecting the northeastern Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma that started on February 26, 2024. The fire affected numerous communities in Hemphill and Roberts counties, including the town of Canadian. As of March 16, 2024, the fire had burned approximately 1,058,482 acres before it was successfully contained, making it the largest wildfire on record in Texas's history as well as the largest wildfire in the United States during 2024. It was one of multiple fires during an outbreak of wind-driven wildfires in the Great Plains.
The 2024 Texas wildfires were marked by several major fires, including the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas panhandle and part of Oklahoma.
This is a list of wildfires across the United States during 2024, that have burned more than 1,000 acres, produced significant structural damage or casualties, or otherwise been notable. Acreage and containment figures may not be up to date.
