US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for July 25, 2022—5 New Wildfires Reported

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported on Monday (7-25-22) that the total number of large wildfires and complexes currently burning in the US has expanded to 93, with more than 3,116,631 acres across 15 different states currently burning. Five large new wildfires have been reported within the past 24 hours.

Most of the activity remains located in the state of Alaska where 60 wildfires are burning. There are 6 wildfires burning in Texas and 4 in Arizona. There are 3 wildfires burning in Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. There are 2 wildfires burning in California, Montana, Nebraska, and New Mexico. And 1 each in Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. The NIFC is reporting that as of today only 6 of the 93 wildfires has been partially contained. There are now 8,200 wildland firefighters and support personnel assigned to these incidents.

The current number of wildfires continues to outpace 2021, which until now held the record high level, and is more than double the 10-year average. The NIFC offers this simple comparison:

• From 1/1/22 through 7/25/22, 38,046 wildfires have been reported and they have burned 5,571,855 acres.
• From 1/1/21 through 7/25/21, 36,476 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 2,770,454 acres.
• The NIFC notes that the 10-year average (2012–2021) for the same time period was 32,285 wildfires that consumed 3,328,244 acres.

The NIFC meteorologists continue to predict that that based on their updated long-range weather forecasts, the number of wildfires will continue to grow, as heat and dry conditions will continue to create favorable wildfire conditions.