U.S. National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for July 5th, 2022 – Additional Wildfires Reported

The U.S. National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported on Tuesday (7-5-22,) that the total number of large wildfires and complexes currently burning in the U.S. has increased to 54, with more than 2,692,500 acres across 10 different states now ablaze.

Most of the activity is located in the state of Alaska where 42 wildfires are burning. There are 2 wildfires burning in New Mexico and 1 each in California, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming. The NIFC is reporting that as of today (7-5-22), that only 1 of the 54 wildfires has been partially contained. There are now 4,400 wildland firefighters and support personnel assigned to these incidents.

The current number of wildfires currently well exceeds 2021 record levels and is more than double the 10-year average.

The NIFC offers this simple comparison as an example:

• Between 1/1/22 through 7/5/22 – 34,478 wildfires have been reported and they have burned 4,582,301 acres.
• Between 1/1/21 through 7/5/21 – 31,722 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 1,555,291 acres.

The NIFC notes that past 10-year average, 2012 – 2021, for the same time period was 27,346 wildfires that consumed 2,026,917 acres.

The NIFC is predicting that based on long range weather forecasts, the number of wildfires will continue to grow as we head into the hottest and driest period of the year.