U.S. National Interagency Fire Center Is Reporting That the 2022 Wildfire Season Is Actively Underway

On Wednesday (4-27-22), the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that the 2022 wildfire season is actively underway. The NIFC offers this simple comparison as an example:

• Year-to-date through April 27, 2022, 21,181 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 1,080,836 acres.
• Year-to-date through April 27, 2021, 17,005 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 441,656 acres.
• The NIFC notes that the past 10-year average, for the same time period, was 14,958 wildfires that burned 727,141 acres.

In today’s briefing, the NIFC is reporting that 2 new large fires were reported yesterday—one in Pennsylvania and one in Missouri. Nationally, nearly 3,700 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to 11 large fires. The Southwest area continues to have the largest fire activity, where five incident management teams are assigned. One complex incident management team is assigned to a large fire in Nebraska.

There are currently 11 large and active wildfires burning across 223,796 acres in the U.S. There are 5 in New Mexico; 2 in Arizona; and 1 in Alaska, Florida, Nebraska, and Virginia. As of this time, only 2 of the 11 fires have some containment; they are the in Missouri and Pennsylvania.

Earlier in the month, The Predictive Services staff at the NFIC released the National Wildland Significant Fire Potential Outlook for April through July. This outlook highlights several areas of the country with the potential for an above normal number of wildfires.