Western U.S. Wildfires Decline in Number but Intensify in Scale
Recent research highlights a paradox in wildfire trends across the western United States. While the total number of wildfires has decreased by 31% between 1992 and 2020, the acreage burned has surged by 40%, according to a study led by Amirhossein Montazeri, a PhD student at Boise State University. The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, analyzed over 750,000 wildfires and found that human-caused fire starts have dropped by 33%, likely due to successful prevention campaigns. However, climate change has exacerbated conditions, creating warmer and drier environments that fuel larger and more intense fires. In Utah, for example, the past two wildfire seasons saw a slight decline in fire incidents but a near doubling of burned acreage to 160,000 acres. The study also noted a significant increase in large and very large fires, with those exceeding 25,000 acres and 125,000 acres growing by 63% and 136%, respectively. 
