Fire Program Statistics

Fire Program Statistics

1998 Prescribed Fires by State

Refuge	# Fires	# Acres
Alabama	3	52.0
Alaska	3	1,610.0
Arizona	19	9,045.5
Arkansas	8	2,264.0
California	39	9,029.3
Colorado	6	474.0
Delaware	1	8.0
Florida	102	24,045.5
Georgia	59	7,421.0
Hawaii	7	26.5
Idaho	5	1,164.0
Illinois	7	307.2
Indiana	16	4,150.0
Iowa	12	822.7
Kansas	52	9,352.0
Louisiana	27	27,852.3
Maine	21	210.7
Maryland	42	3,149.0
Michigan	3	50.0
Minnesota	190	51,814.2
Mississippi	45	9,514.7
Missouri	11	575.0
Montana	13	783.3
Nebraska	37	2,424.3
Nevada	15	3,429.0
New Hampshire	6	56.0
New Mexico	5	9,911.0
New York	10	287.5
North Carolina	2	1,617.0
North Dakota	147	18,903.7
Oklahoma	17	7,992.0
Oregon	43	15,942.6
Pennsylvania	7	90.3
Rhode Island	4	40.2
South Carolina	71	16,508.5
South Dakota	21	1,550.0
Tennessee	1	49.8
Texas	73	31,023.5
Utah	3	238.0
Virginia	10	1,418.0
Washington	20	6,199.1
Total	1,218	286,100.9

Back to 1998 Statistics

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 550 national wildlife refuges and 70 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages more than 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 80% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 300,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns more than 350,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 500 permanent fire professionals, along with 200 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 2,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.