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Wildfire

Wildfire

Wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted wildland fire including unauthorized human-caused fires, escaped wildland fire use events, escaped prescribed fire projects, and all other wildland fires where the objective is to put the fire out.

Wildfire Prevention

Most wildfires on U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service lands are human-caused. Prevention of human carelessness with fire is critical to minimize the hazards and expense of wildfires, wildfire suppression, and the repair work needed after wildfires to accomplish emergency stablization and rehabilitation.

Wildfire Suppression

The primary objective of fighting unwanted wildfire is to protect human life. Public and firefighter safety is the first priority and is not compromised for any reason. Protecting communities, property, and natural resources are secondary objectives after ensuring human safety.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) fire managers are skilled and experienced at using a range of operational strategies and tactics, depending on circumstances, to maximize public and firefighter safety during wildfire suppression. These options include direct and indirect attack, limited response, monitoring, and minimal impact suppression techniques (MIST) such as tying fireline into natural barriers to reduce soil disturbance and other environmental impacts.

Click here to learn about NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology

Firefighters conduct a burnout at Clear Lake NWR during the 2001 Clear Fire.
The fire was contained at 4,000 acres. (USFWS)

Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation

FWS conducts emergency stabilization and rehabilitation (ES&R) on lands adversely affected by wildfire and fire suppression, in order to prevent soil erosion and ensure habitat restoration. The need for costly ES&R can be minimized or prevented by regular and ongoing reduction of hazardous fuels through prescribed burning, wildland fire use, and other methods, which reduce the risk, occurrence, and intensity of subsequent wildfire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 547 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries.

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

More than 50% 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 260,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns about 300,000 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 530 permanent fire professionals, along with 270 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 3,000 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.