US Wildfire Damage Jumps 650%

Slightly more than 1.78 million acres were burned in the US last year, an increase of 650% from 2023. Fire incidents occurred “frequently outside of traditional seasonality,” according to software company ESO,

To calculate the figure, ESO analyzed “7,919,600 incidents from calendar year 2024 from 2,739 participating agencies nationwide that use ESO services.” There were 54,489 wildland fire incidents reported last year.

Bigger Footprint

The footprint of where wildfires have occurred recently has expanded both geographically and seasonally. Global warming has triggered higher temperatures and long periods of drought. 

While large fires in states that traditionally faced the challenge (Texas, Oklahoma, California, Colorado, and Wyoming), there were also large and more frequent wildfires in Minnesota, Virginia, and Florida.

Western Wildfires

Climate.gov reports, “Western wildfire damage during the 2017-2021 period was historic, exceeding $90 billion in 2024 dollars compared to only $58 billion in combined damage for the other 18 BDD wildfire events since 1980.” Those numbers are likely to increase if wildfire damage grows by triple digits per year.

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