The Wildfire Crisis: How the Federal Government Has Tried to Stop the Burn

Abstract

As of this writing, there are twenty six “large” active wildfires burning in the United States. To date, 52,785 wildfires have raged this year, which is slightly below normal. Over the past decade, by the middle of October an average of 62 thousand fires burned each year. The real concern however, is the amount of land consumed by wildfire this year. Since 1960, the most land burned in a single year came in 2006, when wildfires scorched over 9.8 million acres. Almost 9.4 million acres have burned thus far in 2015 -- the second highest single-year total in history. This comment will discuss why wildfires are on the rise, how the Federal government attempts to manage them, and a recommendation to improve the Federal government’s efforts.