Up in Smoke: US Fire Acreage a Record Smashing 10.1 million Acres

The US National Interagency Fire Center just updated its annual totals for fires and acres burned for 2015. As of December 30, the total fires were 68,151 which consumed 10,125,149 acres . This new record is 251,404 acres more than the prior set in 2006. 

Source: National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm

For comparison, the 2015 fire area burned almost equals Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island combined, or an area larger than Switzerland.

Most acres burned in Alaska, a total of 5,146,541 acres or almost 51% of those reported. A Nasa image from September 1, 2015 reveals the scars.

The trend for increasing acreage torched is even more pronounced from 1,323,666 in 1983 to 10,125,149 in 2015 - a 764% increase in 32 years.

So what does this mean?

It means we have experienced millions of tons of black carbon or soot, CO2 and methane being released into the atmosphere from US fires alone, which added to the acceleration of warming in the near and distant future. 

We have experienced more forest and tundra being changed from carbon sinks into sources for green house gases. 

More permafrost is being exposed to warming in future years as peat rich soils are scorched away. The Alaskan fires are becoming more severe. A 2011 article, “Recent Acceleration of Biomass Burning and Carbon Losses in Alaskan Forests and Peatlands” in Nature Geoscience, stated the implications well.

“Soil carbon losses will increase dramatically if warming continues to affect the thawing of permafrost, exposing deeper carbon pools to rapid loss through burning,” they wrote. “In turn, deeper burning events are likely to further accelerate permafrost degradation, potentially triggering a positive feedback between permafrost thaw and severe fire activity.  Such feedback has significant implications for greenhouse gas emissions in northern regions.” Source: Frequent, Severe Fires Turn Alaskan Forests into a Carbon Production Line, http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2011/february/frequent-severe-fires-turn-alaskan-forests-into-carbon-production-line.html

This is only part of the global forest fires trend of adding to the natural sourced increases in CO2 and CH4 release. See: Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013, Nature Communications, July 14, 2015: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150714/ncomms8537/full/ncomms8537.html#f2

Sources:

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm

Alaska Interagency Coordination Center - Alaska Acres Burned: http://fire.ak.blm.gov/content/aicc/sitreport/current.pdf

US State sizes in acres: http://www.statemaster.com/graph/geo_lan_acr_tot-geography-land-acreage-total

Country Sizes in Sq Km: http://world.bymap.org/LandArea.html

Data:

Total Wildland Fires and Acres (1960-2015)
Figures prior to 1983 may be revised as NICC verifies historical data.
Year	Fires	Acres
2015	68,151	10,125,149
2014	63,312	3,595,613
2013	47,579	4,319,546
2012	67,774	9,326,238
2011	74,126	8,711,367
2010	71,971	3,422,724
2009	78,792	5,921,786
2008	78,979	5,292,468
2007	85,705	9,328,045
2006	96,385	9,873,745
2005	66,753	8,689,389
2004	65,461	*8,097,880
2003	63,629	3,960,842
2002	73,457	7,184,712
2001	84,079	3,570,911
2000	92,250	7,393,493
1999	92,487	5,626,093
1998	81,043	1,329,704
1997	66,196	2,856,959
1996	96,363	6,065,998
1995	82,234	1,840,546
1994	79,107	4,073,579
1993	58,810	1,797,574
1992	87,394	2,069,929
1991	75,754	2,953,578
1990	66,481	4,621,621
1989	48,949	1,827,310
1988	72,750	5,009,290
1987	71,300	2,447,296
1986	85,907	2,719,162
1985	82,591	2,896,147
1984	20,493	1,148,409
1983	18,229	1,323,666