2002 Fire Season at a Glance  |  Current Wildland Fire Information  |  Home

Highlights for the 2002 Wildland Fire Season

• Firefighters were successful in suppressing 99 percent of all fires during initial attack. Of the more than 68,000 fires reported, only about 615 escaped to become large.
• The success of this season is remarkable given extreme drought conditions that existed throughout most of the United States. About 45 percent of the country reported moderate to extreme drought conditions early in the season.
• This season will be remembered for its large timber fires. Colorado, Arizona and Oregon recorded their largest fires in the last century.
• Firefighters were successful in protecting 98 percent of all threatened structures in the wildland/urban interface. More than 110,000 structures were threatened by large fires and firefighters were credited with protecting homes, businesses and other structures.
• The firefighting community went to its highest level of preparedness and readiness five weeks earlier than ever before. It remained at that level for a record-setting 62 days.
• By early July, 28,000 firefighters and support personnel were assigned to fire suppression activities, which is the maximum number of civilian resources available. Later in the month a battalion of about 600 Army troops were activated for fire suppression efforts. An additional 950 Canadian, New Zealand and Australian firefighters then joined in the effort.
• In the midst of this extreme activity, the agencies were successful in treating 2.1 million acres of federal land for hazardous fuel reduction. In addition, resource managers collaborated with state and local government to prepare three million additional acres to be treated in 2003.
• When the smoke cleared the tough work of rehabilitating scorched acres began. Resource managers throughout the country are working diligently to rehabilitate millions of acres of burned land for a quicker recovery.
• To help prevent fires, 31 national prevention and education teams were sent to eight fire-prone states.