Climate Central

May 15, 2025

Extreme Weather Toolkit: Wildfire

CM: Change in Fire Weather Days 2023 (EN)

More frequent hot, dry, windy conditions contribute to more wildfires that put people and ecosystems at risk. 

Wildfires are an important and necessary component of many ecosystems. But human-caused climate change, poor land management practices, and sprawling development have increased both the availability of fuel and the frequency of weather conditions that spark and spread dangerous fires, particularly in the western United States.

Wildfires can injure people, disrupt livelihoods, displace communities, lead to power outages and water supply problems, and take lives. Wildfire smoke, which has increased in nearly 75% of U.S. states since 2016, is a serious concern for human health, crops and livestock, and can contribute to premature death.

In the U.S., climate change has roughly doubled the forest area burned between 1984 and 2015.

Both lightning-caused and human-caused fires have long occurred. But people started 87% of U.S. wildfires from 2001 to 2024. Those human-caused fires account for almost half of all acres burned over that period.

Regardless of how fires start, more frequent hot, dry, windy conditions affect fuel availability and fire behavior (ignition, duration, and spreading), and can compromise suppression efforts. 

According to Climate Central analysis spanning the contiguous U.S. over a 52-year period (1973-2024), wildfire seasons are lengthening and intensifying, especially in the western U.S. 

Human-caused climate change accounts for at least two-thirds of the rapid increase in fire weather in the western U.S. in recent decades. And the latest IPCC reports project more frequent fire weather conditions with increased warming.

Updated: May 2025