Notes–

1) The source of most of the data in this chart is the U.S. Forest Service “Wild Land Fire” data in the Fire_History.zip geodatabase file downloaded from the Region 3 geospatial data site on March 8, 2024. The data site designated the causes of a few of the wildfires with known causes as “cause undetermined,” so other information sources were utilized for those fires.

2) This chart includes fires designated as “natural caused” fires, that were greatly expanded by the Forest Service. However, it is not known to what extent that occurred during most fires in which that strategy was employed. It is known that the 2024 Indios Fire and Tanques Fire were greatly expanded by USFS aerial and hand ignitions. For example, during the Tanques Fire, when the fire reached 13 acres, the Forest Service began expanding the fire for “resource management objectives.” So out of a total of 6,645 acres burned, only 13 acres actually burned due to the lightning strike ignition, and 6,632 acres were primarily ignited by the USFS.

3) This chart only considers actual acres burned. It does not take into account any differences in the time required for the Forest Service to suppress fires due to the nature of differing fire ignitions, because that data is not easily available. For example, it’s possible that a lightening strike fire could be suppressed more quickly than an escaped broadcast prescribed burn, which could affect the total number of acres burned