Fire Program Statistics

Fire Program Statistics

1999 Prescribed Fires by State

Refuge	# Fires	# Acres
Alabama	5	48.8
Alaska	7	1,561.0
Arizona	12	14,403.0
Arkansas	10	2,355.0
California	52	1,920.0
Colorado	5	1,920.0
Delaware	3	47.0
Florida	90	20,777.2
Georgia	51	22,301.1
Hawaii	1	15.0
Idaho	7	1,515.0
Illinois	8	303.0
Indiana	4	641.0
Iowa	28	3,257.3
Kansas	55	4,366.6
Louisiana	21	18,120.1
Maine	20	175.1
Maryland	55	4,547.6
Michigan	2	60.0
Minnesota	143	23,797.6
Mississippi	56	9,742.2
Missouri	5	740.0
Montana	23	2,362.5
Nebraska	40	4,412.5
Nevada	11	2,076.5
New Hampshire	6	58.6
New Jersey	5	173.0
New Mexico	19	5,860.6
New York	13	305.6
North Carolina	23	12,383.0
North Dakota	152	19,296.1
Oklahoma	24	9,328.4
Oregon	21	8,462.4
Pennsylvania	3	16.8
South Carolina	53	14,745.5
South Dakota	35	6,544.0
Texas	87	39,120.8
Utah	5	2,556.0
Vermont	2	39.0
Virginia	5	282.0
Washington	17	1,425.0
Wisconsin	40	4,270.7
Total	1,224	274,058.1

Back to 1999 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.