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Narrative

2017 Fire Season Summary

  • Since January 1st, nearly 53,000 wildfires have burned nearly 9 million acres of federal, state, and private land nationwide. This represents a 30% increase in acres burned compared to the 10-year average for this date (Fires and Acres Year to Date by Protection table).

  • Approximately 2.3 million acres have burned so far this year on National Forest system lands. That’s about 30% above the 10-year average of 1.6 million acres for the entire year.

  • The fire year began in the fall of 2016 with the fire siege in the southeast. The season progressed to above average fire activity in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Regions. We then saw above average fire activity that started earlier than usual in the Northern Rockies and an active season in the Northwest. We closed the year in northern California with a wind-driven fire event that caused unimaginable numbers of civilian fatalities and structure losses.

  • During Fiscal Year 2017, the national preparedness level, which indicates level of fire activity and commitment of fire suppression assets, was at the highest levels (4 and 5) for 77 days. Several regions including the Northwest, Northern Rockies, and Northern California hit PL5. The national Preparedness Level just dropped back to 1 on October 31st for the first time since mid-May.

  • Over 28,000 people supported firefighting activities during peak Western fire season.

  • While we were at the peak of fire season, the hurricanes began to hit, beginning with Harvey in late August. While the high number of personnel committed to wildfires limited our ability to support the hurricane response, we assisted the best we could and still managed to provide personnel to support the hurricane response effort and continue to do so.

  • We’re still sorting out how many structures burned nationwide this year. Right now our best estimate is more than 11,500, most of those are single residences.

  • Tragically, despite all of the wildland fire agencies’ best efforts to manage risk, 12 wildland fire management personnel lost their lives in the line of duty this year.