Wildfires in Alaska

1-1.5 Million Hectares
Typical Bad-Year Acreage
2004 (2.6M Hectares)
Record Year

Historical data

Coming soon

Long-run charts for this indicator are on the way.

Compared to the United States

IndicatorAlaskaUnited States
Average Annual Acres Burned (thousands of hectares)500100

National ranking

Alaska ranks #3 of 30 states by acres burned per year.

#1Kentucky0
#2Louisiana0
#3Alaska2
#4Wisconsin3
#5Ohio4.5
#6South Dakota6
#7New Jersey7
#8Virginia10
#9Michigan10
#10Minnesota15
#11Wyoming20
#12Georgia22
#13North Carolina25
#14Vermont49
#15Delaware50
#16Florida60
#17Colorado150
#18New Hampshire200
#19Rhode Island200
#20Arizona220
#21Washington330
#22Maine500
#23Utah1,000
#24Indiana1,500
#25Massachusetts2,000
#26Illinois9,000
#27Missouri25,000
#28New Mexico150,000
#29Montana160,000
#30Oregon200,000

Overview

Lightning-sparked fires sweep across Alaska's remote boreal forest and tundra almost every summer, and in severe years such as 2004 they have burned more than 2.6 million hectares, an area larger than several US states combined.

Did you know?

  • The 2004 Alaska fire season burned about 2.6 million hectares, the largest area on record for the state.

Related data