State of the Climate
U.S. Wildfire
September 2007

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Climatic Data Center

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Fire activity in early September was focused across the Northern Rockies, with numerous large fires burning in central Idaho and western Montana.

Large fires – 9 September 2007

By the end of the month, wildfire activity had mostly abated across most of the U.S., although in early October several large fires had initiated across parts of the Tennessee Valley and western North Carolina.

As of October 2nd, only 4 large fires were actively burning. According to recent estimates from the National Interagency Fire center (NIFC), over 73,000 wildland fires had been reported across the U.S., with over 8.2 million acres burned so far in 2007.

U.S. Drought Monitor map
from 25 September 2007

Unusually dry conditions and severe–to–extreme drought across most of the Intermountain West have resulted in a large region of extreme fire potential according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) experimental fire potential index.

At the end of September, the highest fire danger remained across parts of the Columbia Plateau in eastern Oregon and parts of eastern Montana.

Fire Danger map from 27 September 2007

In early September, fire activity in northern California generated a smoke plume and poor air quality that spread across northern portions of the Great Basin. By mid–September, wildfires and smoke were impacting parts of southern California and Nevada

Dead fuel moisture levels have remained extremely dry across the western U.S. during September. The 10–hour fuel moisture levels on September 27th were exceptionally dry throughout most of the western U.S., and were also unusually dry across the Carolinas and Virginia due to widespread drought.

2007 Wildfire Statistics (Source: NIFC)

Totals as of October 1st	Nationwide Number of Fires	Nationwide Number of Acres Burned
10/1/2007	73,256	8,227,255
10/1/2006	83,912	9,091,808
10/1/2005	53,413	8,167,090
10/1/2004	61,355	7,732,232
10/1/2003	49,397	3,190,239
10/1/2002	67,424	6,657,049
10/1/2001	63,221	3,229,179
10/1/2000	80,386	6,891,451
5–yr average (2003 – 2007)	64,267	7,281,724
10–yr average (1997 – 2006)	66,900	5,722,456

Medium to larger fuels (i.e., the September 27th 100–hr and September 27th 1000–hr fuel moistures) were also very dry, with exceptionally dry fuel conditions across an area that encompassed northern Nevada and southern Idaho.

The Keetch–Byram Drought Index (KBDI), a widely used drought index for fire risk, had the largest potential for wildland fire activity in the contiguous U.S. across a large portion of California, as well as over most of the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Tennessee Valley, and the Southeast.