Alaska wildfires

Are wildfire records common in Alaska?

Alaska averages about 4.1 wildfire records a year since 2000, 23rd of 48 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2005 (11). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Alaska records 1.3 wildfire records since 1996, 45th of 48 states and territories by that measure.

1. 1. Hawaii 441
2. 2. New Jersey 241
3. 3. Puerto Rico 137
4. 4. California 102
5. 5. Florida 91
6. 6. Oklahoma 88
7. 7. Delaware 87
8. 8. Washington 82
9. 9. Oregon 77
10. 10. Colorado 64
11. 45. Alaska 1.3

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Alaska have the most wildfire records?

Per square mile, Anchorage Municipality leads Alaska: 5 days with a wildfire record since 1996, 2.9 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area has the most wildfire records (17 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

1. Anchorage Municipality 2.9 (5)
2. Skagway Municipality 2.3 (1)
3. Bristol Bay Borough 2.1 (1)
4. Juneau City and Borough 0.7 (2)
5. Fairbanks North Star Borough 0.5 (7)
6. Haines Borough 0.4 (1)
7. Matanuska-Susitna Borough 0.4 (12)
8. Wrangell City and Borough 0.4 (2)
9. Sitka City and Borough 0.3 (4)
10. Petersburg Borough 0.3 (2)
11. Dillingham Census Area 0.3 (7)
12. Hoonah-Angoon Census Area 0.3 (6)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is fire season in Alaska?

67% of its wildfire records since 1996 fell in May and June. The busiest month is June (38 records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest wildfire records in Alaska

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are wildfire records becoming more frequent in Alaska?

Alaska's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent wildfire records in Alaska

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for wildfire records in Alaska

FEMA has declared 30 disasters in Alaska for wildfire, counting its incident type and declarations that name fire in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 4 were major disasters, the latest on August 18, 2026.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next

• Anchorage Municipality: the county's whole recordThe Alaska county with the most wildfire records per square mile
• Wildfires across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in AlaskaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Winter storms in Alaska4,435 records
• High wind and dust storms in Alaska3,842 records
• Floods in Alaska648 records