Steve Smede Photo
With smoky scenes like this mucking up our summer, it’s only natural to wonder where it’s all coming from. The short answer from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): wildfires in Oregon and California.
The long answer, however, has an interesting bit of trivia: Of the 10 states reporting wildfires, most of them are currently right here in Idaho.
Luckily for our own back yard, most of the 20 current blazes are raging well to the north, spanning from Salmon and Stanley up to the Panhandle.
California definitely has the most affected acreage. Fires there have eaten up roughly 1.63 million acres vs. the Gem State’s 200,000.
By the Numbers
- Current active fires: 79
- It’s not strictly the West. Minnesota has two fires that have burned up more than 27,000 acres.
- Total reported fires for 2021: 43,729
- Most of them, 38,137, have been caused by people.
- Total acreage burned: 5,115,981
- Across the country, more than 23,000 firefighters and support personnel are responding to the blazes.
NIFC reports: “Dry and breezy conditions are likely along and east of the Cascades into the Sierra Front across central and eastern Idaho into western Montana.
Source material: nifc.gov