78 Large Wildfires Continue to Burn in the Western US — Only 2 are Contained

The National Interagency Fire Center reported today (9-7-21) that there are 78 large fires or complexes currently burning in the U.S. Those wildfires have burned more than 1.9 million acres in 10 states. That is up one from Monday’s report. Incidents in California were very active yesterday with the Caldor, Dixie, Monument, River Complex, and McCash fires gaining thousands of acres.

Twenty-six Type 1 and Type 2 incident management teams and more than 23,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the country. As of today, only 2 of these fires are being reported as contained.

Year to date, a total of 43,555 wildfires have been reported and they have consumed 5,104,228 acres. In comparison for the same time period in 2020, which was considered a ‘bad’ fire season, 41,051 wildfires were reported and they consumed 4,729,287 acres.

The breakdown per state of wildfires is as follows: Idaho, 20; Montana, 17; Washington, 13; California, 12; Oregon, 6; Wyoming, 4; Nevada, 2; Minnesota, 2; Colorado, 1; and Utah, 1.