Arizona wildfires

Are wildfire records common in Arizona?

Arizona averages about 12 wildfire records a year since 2000, 9th of 48 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2020 (32). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Arizona records 28 wildfire records since 1996, 15th 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. 15. Arizona 28

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 Arizona have the most wildfire records?

Per square mile, Santa Cruz County leads Arizona: 27 days with a wildfire record since 1996, 21.8 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Coconino County has the most wildfire records (74 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. Santa Cruz County 21.8 (29)
2. Greenlee County 18.4 (39)
3. Graham County 7.8 (43)
4. Cochise County 6.3 (53)
5. Gila County 5.5 (26)
6. Pima County 5.3 (67)
7. Navajo County 3.7 (40)
8. Pinal County 3.5 (23)
9. Coconino County 3.4 (74)
10. Yavapai County 3.2 (32)
11. Apache County 1.3 (16)
12. Maricopa County 0.7 (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 Arizona?

61% of its wildfire records since 1996 fell in June and July. The busiest month is June (121 records).

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

What were the deadliest wildfire records in Arizona?

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.

The costliest wildfire records in Arizona

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 Arizona?

Arizona'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 Arizona

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 Arizona

FEMA has declared 82 disasters in Arizona for wildfire, counting its incident type and declarations that name fire in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 3 were major disasters, the latest on May 22, 2025.

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

Next

• Santa Cruz County: the county's whole recordThe Arizona county with the most wildfire records per square mile
• Wildfires across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in ArizonaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Severe thunderstorm wind in Arizona4,106 records
• Floods in Arizona3,896 records
• Heat in Arizona2,676 records