Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence in the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, 2015

Potter, K.M. 2017. Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence in the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, 2015. Chapter 3 in K.M. Potter and B.L. Conkling, eds., Forest Health Monitoring: National Status, Trends and Analysis, 2016. General Technical Report SRS-222. Asheville, North Carolina: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. p. 43-62.

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 density can allow for the identification of areas at greatest risk of significant impact and for the selection of locations for more intensive analysis. In 2015, the number of satellite-detected forest fire occurrences recorded for the conterminous States was the lowest since 2011. Ecoregions in the interior of the Pacific Northwest States, and near the coast of northwestern California and southeastern Oregon experienced the most fires per 100 km2 of forested area. Geographic hot spots of high fire occurrence density were detected in these same areas. Ecoregions in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes States, and the Northeast experienced greater fire occurrence density than normal compared to the 12-year mean and accounting for variability over time. Alaska experienced moderately high fire occurrence densities in the interior of the State, but low densities elsewhere. The Big Island of Hawai‘i experienced very high fire occurrence density as a result of an ongoing volcanic eruption.