List of largest fires of the 21st century explained

This is a list of the largest fires of the 21st century.

RankNameCountryArea burned (ha)Deaths
12023–2024 Australian bushfire season Australia144,537,20010[1]
22024 South American wildfires 85,866,867154[2] [3] [4] [5]
32002–2003 Australian bushfire season Australia54,000,0007[6]
4 2024 Brazil wildfires Brazil47,438,1022
52019–2020 Australian bushfire season Australia24,300,000–39,800,00033[7] [8] [9]
62023 Canadian wildfires Canada18,496,0519[10]
72021 Russia wildfires7,800,000–16,100,0000[11]
82019 Siberia wildfires7,800,0000[12]
92014 Northwest Territories fires Canada3,000,0000[13]
102020 California wildfires United States1,779,73033[14]
112010 Bolivia forest fires1,500,0000[15]
122006–2007 Australian bushfire season Australia1,300,0005[16]
132017 British Columbia wildfires Canada1,148,0000[17]
142019 Amazon rainforest wildfires Brazil

Colombia
Paraguay
Peru		906,495–930,7762[18]
152017 Chile wildfires Chile500,00011[19]
162009 Black Saturday bushfires Australia401,073173[20]
172015 Russian wildfires107,00033[21]
182018 Attica wildfires Greecemore than 4000104[22]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Evershed . Nick . Ball . Andy . Morton . Adam . How big are the fires burning in Australia's north? Interactive map shows they've burned an area larger than Spain . November 17, 2023 . February 18, 2024 . . en.
  2. Web site: GWIS - Statistics Portal . 2024-09-14 . Global Wildfire Information System.
  3. News: 24 August 2024 . Wildfires affecting 30 cities in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, leave 2 dead . 24 August 2024 . Reuters.
  4. Web site: Chile arrests firefighter for blaze that killed 137 people . 2024-09-23 . www.bbc.com . en-GB.
  5. News: Aquino . Marco . Villegas . Alexander . 16 September 2024 . Maler . Sandra . Peru calls on farmers to halt burns amid deadly fire season . 17 September 2024 . Reuters.
  6. Web site: National Inquiry on Bushfire Mitigation and Management, Council of Australian Governments. Commonwealth of Australia. 2004-03-31. Ellis, Stuart. Kanowski, Peter. Whelan, R. J.. 2023-08-28. xii. PDF.
  7. News: Australia fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis. BBC. 6 January 2020.
  8. News: It's official: every bushfire in NSW has either been extinguished or is under control. Timeout. 14 February 2020.
  9. Web site: 2019–20 Australian bushfires—frequently asked questions (updates) . www.aph.gov.au . Australian Parliament House . 5 September 2023 . en-AU . the Commonwealth Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements ‘struggled to obtain consistent burnt area data on a national scale’, and found estimates of area burnt that ranged from 24.3 to 33.8 million hectares (…) The Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment subsequently developed the National Indicative Aggregated Fire Extent Datasets in 2020, which estimated 39.8 million hectares were burnt in the 2019–20 fires..
  10. Web site: Fire Statistics . CIFFC.net . Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) . 25 October 2023 . October 2023 . https://archive.today/20231025181718/https://ciffc.net/statistics . 25 October 2023 . live .
  11. News: Siberia's wildfires are bigger than all the world's other blazes combined. The Washington Post. Robyn. Dixon. August 11, 2021. February 10, 2024. forest fires that have burned more than 62,300 square miles since the beginning of the year, according to Greenpeace (…) The ministry estimates that the area burned in forest fires this year at slightly more than 30,000 square miles.
  12. News: Russian military called in to fight Siberian forest fires . https://web.archive.org/web/20190731162022/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/putin-orders-military-to-fight-forest-fires-in-russias-east/2019/07/31/15b118b4-b396-11e9-acc8-1d847bacca73_story.html . dead . 31 July 2019 . . 31 July 2019 . Washington Post . 5 August 2019.
  13. News: A new 2014 for wildfires. Cabin Radio. 5 March 2019.
  14. News: National Large Incident Year-to-date Report. Geographic Area Coordination Centers. 14 September 2020.
  15. News: Bolivia declares emergency over forest fires. BBC. 20 August 2010.
  16. Web site: Smith. Ross. Key Issues Identified From Operational Reviews of Major Fires in Victoria 2006/07. depi.vic.gov.au. Department of Sustainability and Environment & Country Fire Authority. 11 June 2015. July 2007.
  17. News: B.C. farmers and ranchers devastated by wildfires to get $20M in financial aid. CBC. 6 September 2017.
  18. News: Brazil's Bolsonaro says he will accept aid to fight Amazon fires . August 27, 2019 . . August 30, 2019.
  19. News: Daniel . Pardo . "Es como el infierno de Dante": el drama de los voraces incendios que Chile no logra sofocar . January 29, 2017 . . February 18, 2024 . es.
  20. Web site: 2009-11-23. The Australian "Black Saturday" Bushfires of 2009. 2021-02-27. Saving Earth Encyclopedia Britannica. en.
  21. News: Fire rages on as death toll from two blazes reaches 33. The Siberian Times. 16 April 2015.
  22. News: Εγκλωβισμένα άτομα στην παραλία στο Μάτι. Newsbomb.gr. 23 July 2018.

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