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Facts + Statistics: Wildfires
Wildland fires
As many as 90 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by humans, according to the U.S. Department of Interior. Some human-caused fires result from campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, negligently discarded cigarettes and intentional acts of arson. The remaining 10 percent are started by lightning or lava.
Wildfires by year
2017: From January 1 to October 6, 2017, there were 50,283 wildfires, compared to 46,618 wildfires in the same period in 2016, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. About 8.5 million acres were burned in the 2017 period, compared with 4.8 million in 2016. As of October 6, for the year so far, 2017 ranked higher in number of acres burned compared to the 10-year average. In early October, northern California was hit a devastating outbreak of wildfires which led to at least 23 fatalities and destroyed over 3,500 structures.
According to Verisk’s 2017 Wildfire Risk Analysis 4.5 million U.S. homes were identified at high or extreme risk of wildfire, with more than 2 million in California alone. Losses from wildfires added up to $5.1 billion over the past 10 years.
2016: There were a total of 5.5 million acres burned by wildfires in 2016. On May 1 of that year, a wildfire broke out in the Alberta city of Fort McMurray. The fire is set to become the costliest ever Canadian natural disaster for insurers, with 1,600 buildings destroyed and more under threat. Two fatalities are attributed to the fire and the entire population of about 90,000 were evacuated. The smoke from the fire could be seen as far south as Iowa.
2015: The 2015 fire season set a new record for the number of acres burned in the United States. Between January 1 and December 30, 2015 there were 68,151 wildfires, which burned 10.1 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. During the same period in 2014, 63,417 fires burned 3.6 million acres. The previous record was set in 2006 at 9,873,745 acres.
NUMBER OF ACRES BURNED IN WILDFIRES, 1980–2015
Source: © 2015 Munich Re. NatCatSERVICE; National Interagency Fire Center. As of June 2015.
Total Potential Exposure To Wildfire Damage By Risk Category, 2014 (1)
($ billions)
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(1) Reconstruction value of single-family residences at risk.
Source: CoreLogic, Inc., a data and analytics company.
Top 10 Most Wildfire Prone States, 2017
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(1) Number of households is based on data from the 2010 U.S. Census.
NA=Data not available.
Source: Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting and Verisk Climate units of Verisk Analytics®.
Wildfires By State, 2016
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(1) Delaware had no wildfires in 2016.
(2) Includes Puerto Rico which had 113 fires that burned 486 acres.
Source: National Interagency Fire Center.
Top 10 States For Wildfires Ranked By Number Of Fires And By Number Of Acres Burned, 2016
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Source: National Interagency Fire Center.
Top 10 Costliest Wildland Fires In The United States (1)
($ millions)
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(1) Property coverage only for catastrophic fires. Effective January 1, 1997, ISO's Property Claim Services (PCS) unit defines catastrophes as events that cause more than $25 million in insured property damage and that affect a significant number of insureds and insurers. From 1982 to 1996, PCS used a $5 million threshold in defining catastrophes. Before 1982, PCS used a $1 million threshold.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2016 by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.
Source: The Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company
