USFA Releases Fire Risk Reports

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has issued three special reports as part of its Topical Fire Report Series, examining the risk of death or injury from fire by various demographics, such as age, race, and gender. Source: U.S. Fire Administration

The three reports, Fire Risk, Fire Risk to Children, and Fire Risk to Older Adults, were developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of USFA. The reports explore factors that influence risk and are based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS), and the U.S. Census Bureau.

These reports are an update of the previous fire risk reports issued in April 2008 (Volume 7, Issues 5, 6, and 7).

Download

• Fire Risk in 2007 (PDF, 542 Kb)
• Fire Risk to Children in 2007 (PDF, 371 Kb)
• Fire Risk to Older Adults in 2007 (PDF, 478 Kb)

Total U.S. Wildfire Acres 1960 – 2008 and USFS Fire Suppression Costs 1970 – 2008
Annual average acres per wildfire in the U.S. from 1960 through 2010.

Total acres burned per year peaked in 2006 at nearly 10 million acres and has been dropping ever since, to a reported 3,377,250 acres this year, the smallest total since 1998. One-third of this year’s wildfire acreage was in Alaska, by the way.

The number of wildfires peaked in 1981 (there were 249,370 wildfires reported that year) and has been dropping ever since, to 68,430 this year, the lowest annual count on record.

Average wildfire size peaked in 2005 at 113 acres, dropping to 49 acres this year, the smallest average size since 2001.