2026 fire season off to ominous start after relatively mild 2025

An extremely dry winter across the western U.S. has increased the risk of serious fires for 2026, according to National Interagency Coordination Center Manager Sean Peterson.

The center, tasked with coordinating wildfire response throughout the U.S., tallied 77,850 total wildfires and 5 million acres burned in 2025, compared with 67,897 wildfires and nearly 9 million acres burned in 2024. 

Despite total wildfire acreage in 2025 falling from the previous year, a few high-profile fires reopened policy discussions and made the year feel bigger than it was, said.

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