A staggering nearly 45.7 million acres were burned in 2023, surpassing the previous high of 17.5 million acres.
A helicopter battles the McDougall Creek wildfire as it burns in the hills West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, on August 17, 2023. A season that roared to life in early May barely let up for months. By late June, this year had already. Giant blazes raged through the heart of summer, leading to an international response to aid weary firefighters. When the season should have been all but over, late September instead featured some of the season’s quickest growth in charred acreage.
But finally — though dozens of fires persist in various smoldering forms — the amount of newly charred land has slowed to a trickle, and near-futureAbout 45.7 million acres were burned in 2023, surpassing the previous high of 17.5 million acres based on records dating back to 1983, If all the scorched land was combined, it would entirely cover North Dakota, plus a couple hundred thousand acres somewhere else.
As might be expected given such stats, the impacts were far-reaching and unprecedented across recent history. Unlike most years, the extent was unusually expansive, stretching from coast-to-coast.