Wildfires Burn Off 95% of Massachusetts

The Western U.S. is ablaze this summer. How much forest and range has burned? The usual point of comparison is to the size of the state of Rhode Island. By that standard, the states of Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Nevada have each lost an area the size of Rhode Island to wildfires. In all, over 7 Rhode Islands have burned off.

The point of comparison needs to be scaled up. In total, 4,797,055 acres across 15 Western states have burned. If that area were square, it would be 86.5 miles by 86.5 miles. It's also about 95% of the 5,017,613 acres of land in Massachusetts. That's Boston to the Berkshires burned off.

There are fires in other parts of the country but they hardly compare. Wildfires have claimed 26,763 acres in the South and 24,469 acres in the Midwest. And the wildfires aren't over yet - 107 of the 153 largest wildfires in the West are still active.

Here are the stats, including only fires that have burned 1,000 acres or more:

Wildfires by State/Region	Acres	Sq. mi.
Oregon	835,344	1305
Montana	712,816	1114
Idaho	784,393	1226
Nevada	697,612	1090
New Mexico	364,462	569
Utah	325,529	509
California	295,830	462
Wyoming	294,215	460
Colorada	169,056	264
Arizona	123,826	193
Nebraska	78,245	122
North Dakota	62,719	98
Washington	29,493	46
Texas	14,993	23
Alaska	8,522	13
West (total)	4,797,055	7495
South	26,763	42
Midwest	24,469	38
Comparable Land Areas
Rhode Island	668,755	1045
Massachusetts	5,017,613	7840

It is dryer than normal this summer across most of the country. In addition to the wildfires in the West, crops across the Midwest have withered without enough rain under the hot sun. But that's another story.