Arizona seeing less acreage burned from wildfires this year than in 2022
Jun 27, 2023, 4:15 AM | Updated: 9:16 am
(Inciweb Photo)
(Inciweb Photo)
PHOENIX — Arizona has experienced about the same total number of wildfires this year compared to 2022, but has seen significantly lower acreage burned.
Wildfires have burned 37,189 acres in the Grand Canyon State as of Sunday, down from 95,337 acres in 2022, according to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management.
The state has seen 714 fires in 2023, slightly less than the 752 blazes at this point last year.
Tiffany Davila, a spokeswoman for the forestry department, said that could change quickly, especially in southern Arizona.
RELATED STORIES
“The grass down in southern Arizona is basically dry and a tinderbox right now,” Davila told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
Arizona has kept the acreage total down, in part, because it hasn’t yet seen a massive, drawn-out fire that’s normal for the season.
In 2022, the Pipeline Fire near Flagstaff burned about 26,000 acres for about two months starting in June, the most expansive fire of the year.
The largest fire by area in 2023 has been the Wilbur Fire, which has burned 10,279 acres east of Prescott in the last month.
In total, there were 1,444 wildfires that burned 124,323 acres in Arizona in 2022.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.
