Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence in the conterminous United States and Alaska, 2010

Potter, K.M. 2013. Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence in the conterminous United States and Alaska, 2010. Chapter 3 in K.M. Potter and B.L. Conkling, eds., Forest Health Monitoring: National Status, Trends and Analysis, 2011. General Technical Report SRS-185. Asheville, North Carolina: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station.

Forest fire occurrence outside the historic range of frequency and intensity can result in extensive economic and ecological impacts. The detection of regional patterns of fire occurrence can allow for the identification of areas at greatest risk of significant impact and for the selection of locations for more intensive analysis. In 2010, the South Central and Red Bed Plains of Oklahoma experienced the most fires per 100 km2 of forested area, while ecoregions in Utah, Idaho, and Florida also had high densities of forest fire occurrence. In Alaska, a moderate density of forest fires occurred in the Yukon Flats ecoregion. Geographical hot spots of fire occurrence were detected in eastern Oregon, the Southeastern Coastal Plain, northeastern Oklahoma, and in scattered locations across the West. When looking at the last 10 years of fire occurrence data, ecoregions in southern California and central Idaho had the highest mean number of fires per year relative to forested area.