Drought, wind, and debris from recent hurricanes are stoking fires across the US

Some 14,800 wildfires have burned 1,105 square miles so far this year — well above the 10-year average

In North Carolina, wildfires stoked by unusually dry air and debris from last year’s Hurricane Helene are burning out of control. In Florida, there are dozens of blazes, including one that scorched about 42 square miles in Miami-Dade County. And they continue to burn in Oklahoma, where four people have died this month due to wind-driven fires. Those states were just three of eight where large fires were being reported on Friday.

Some 14,800 wildfires have burned 1,105 square miles so far this year — well above the 10-year average, according to data released Friday by the National Interagency Fire Center. Most devastating were the Los Angeles wildfires in January, fueled by dry vegetation and howling winds, that destroyed entire neighborhoods.

Wildfires have happened with such frequency in recent years that many U.S. fire officials say there is no longer a “fire season,” which traditionally ran from late spring through the fall. That is because climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline and coal, has raised average global temperatures, creating drier conditions that allow wildfires, which are mostly mostly caused by humans, to burn longer and more intensely.

While major fires often happen early in the year — in February 2024, Texas experienced the largest wildfire in state history — this year is a bit unusual “because we’re seeing it happen in so many places,” said Brad Rippey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist who monitors drought.

This week, 45% of the country is in drought, when historically it's around 20% at any given time, Rippey said. That dried out lots of fuel just waiting for a spark — from freeze-dried grasses in the southern Plains to downed trees and brush from hurricanes that ravaged parts of the southeast and southern Appalachians in recent years.

Cover photo: By Independent