Georgia wildfires

Are wildfire records common in Georgia?

Georgia averages about 11 wildfire records a year since 2000, 12th of 48 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2012 (34). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Georgia records 37 wildfire records since 1996, 13th 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. 13. Georgia 37

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 Georgia have the most wildfire records?

Per square mile, Towns County leads Georgia: 11 days with a wildfire record since 1996, 66.1 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Fannin County has the most wildfire records (25 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. Towns County 66.1 (11)
2. Fannin County 64.6 (25)
3. Union County 55.9 (18)
4. Murray County 55.2 (20)
5. Lumpkin County 42.4 (12)
6. Chattooga County 35.1 (11)
7. Walker County 24.6 (11)
8. Brantley County 22.6 (10)
9. Gilmer County 21.1 (9)
10. Putnam County 17.4 (6)
11. White County 16.6 (4)
12. Jasper County 13.6 (5)

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 Georgia?

Georgia's wildfire records by month. The busiest month is April (40 records).

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

The costliest wildfire records in Georgia

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 Georgia?

Georgia'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 Georgia

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 Georgia

FEMA has declared 14 disasters in Georgia for wildfire, counting its incident type and declarations that name fire in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 0 were major disasters, the latest on April 22, 2026.

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

Next

• Towns County: the county's whole recordThe Georgia county with the most wildfire records per square mile
• Wildfires across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in GeorgiaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Severe thunderstorm wind in Georgia24,657 records
• Hail in Georgia8,810 records
• Drought in Georgia5,192 records