20260812 15153700 1.0 TRUE 150000000 5000 ISO19139 20260812 000000 ArcGIS Metadata 1.0 USFS Chief Information Office, Enterprise Data Warehouse Please send an e-mail to the address below. Washington DC 20250 US SM.FS.data@usda.gov dataset Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2024 [FPA_FOD_20260615] 2026-09-09T16:35:05 USDA Forest Service 2026-09-09T16:35:05 There is a wealth of information to be found in agency and local fire reports, but even the most rudimentary interagency analyses of wildfire numbers and area burned from the authoritative systems of record have been stymied to some degree by their disunity. While necessarily incomplete in some aspects, the database presented here is intended to facilitate fairly high-resolution geospatial analysis of U.S. fire activity over the period 1992-2024, based on available information from federal, state, and local systems of record. It was originally generated to support the national, interagency Fire Program Analysis (FPA) system (http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/FPA/index.shtml). <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><P><SPAN>This data publication contains a spatial database of wildfires that occurred in the United States (US) from 1992 to 2024. It is the sixth update of a publication originally generated to support the national Fire Program Analysis (FPA) system. The wildfire records were acquired from the reporting systems of federal, state, and local fire organizations. The following core data elements were required for records to be included in this data publication: discovery date, final fire size, and a point location at least as precise as a Public Land Survey System (PLSS) section (1-square mile grid). The data were transformed to conform, when possible, to the data standards of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), including an updated wildfire-cause standard (approved August 2020). Basic error-checking was performed, and redundant records were identified and removed to the degree possible. The resulting product, referred to as the Fire Program Analysis fire-occurrence database (FPA FOD), includes 2.66 million geo-referenced wildfire records, representing a total of 209 million acres burned during the 33-year period. Identifiers necessary to link the point-based, final-fire-reporting information to published large-fire-perimeter and operational-situation-reporting datasets are included.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV> Funding for this project was provided by USDA Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management (USFS FAM), USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), and Fire Program Analysis (FPA). USFS Chief Information Office, Enterprise Data Warehouse Please send an e-mail to the address below. Washington DC 20250 US SM.FS.data@usda.gov Fire;fire detection;geoscientific​Information ISO 19115 Topic Categories geoscientific​Information <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><P><SPAN>The USDA Forest Service makes no warranty, expressed or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, completeness or utility of these geospatial data, or for the improper or incorrect use of these geospatial data. These geospatial data and related maps or graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The data and maps may not be used to determine title, ownership, legal descriptions or boundaries, legal jurisdiction, or restrictions that may be in place on either public or private land. Natural hazards may or may not be depicted on the data and maps, and users should exercise due caution. The data are dynamic and may change over time. The user is responsible to verify the limitations of the geospatial data and to use the data accordingly. These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation: Short, Karen C. 2026. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2024 [FPA_FOD_20260615]. 7th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.7</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV> The U.S. Forest Service makes no warranty, express or implied, nor assumes any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or utility of these geospatial data or for the improper or incorrect use of those data. The data are dynamic and may change over time. The user is responsible for verifying the limitations of the geospatial data and for using the data accordingly. This data publication is the seventh edition of the FPA FOD, which spans 1992-2024. The first edition spanned 1992-2011 (https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009), the second edition spanned 1992-2012 (https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.2), the third edition spanned 1992-2013 (https://doi.org/10.2838/RDS-2013-0009.3), the fourth edition spanned 1992-2015 (https://doi.org/10.2837/RDS-2013-0009.4), the fifth edition spanned 1992-2018 (https://doi.org/10.2837/RDS-2013-0009.5), the sixth edition spanned 1992-2020 (https://doi.org/10.2837/RDS-2013-0009.6). All editions were developed as described by Short (2014). Linkable, published large fire perimeters are available at https://www.mtbs.gov/; research-ready ICS-209 situation-reporting data are available at https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/All-hazards_dataset_mined_from_the_US_National_Incident_Management_System_1999-2020/19858927 and described at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-020-0403-0 (documentation and dataset update pending). 1992-01-01T00:00:00 2024-12-31T00:00:00 United States of America 0 The following core data elements were required for records to be included in this dataset: discovery date, final fire size, and a point location at least a precise as Public Land Survey System (PLSS) section (1-square mile grid). The data were transformed to conform, as best as possible, to the data standards of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). The records were screened for errors and redundancy. All such procedures, including the process used to identify and purge redundant records, are detailed in supporting documentation (Short 2014). Viable state and local (i.e., nonfederal) records were not available from all states for all years. Estimates of wildfire numbers and area burned from the FPA FOD may therefore underrepresent actual wildfire activity in certain areas and time periods. Completeness in this regard was assessed by comparing estimates of wildfire numbers and area burned from the FPA FOD to published estimates of these metrics by state and year, and states were "scored" accordingly (i.e., low scores mean data are clearly lacking). High-scoring states include most of those in the U.S. Great Lakes, Southeastern, and Western regions (including Alaska), as well as a handful of others. Estimates of area burned tend to be less compromised than wildfire numbers by missing nonfederal records, because very large fires tend to account for the majority of area burned and are commonly responded to and reported by multiple agencies within the fire service. Efforts to gauge the completeness of the FPA FOD are detailed in supporting documentation (Short 2014). In the 5th edition, some previously unavailable nonfederal wildfire records for the period 1999-2015 were acquired either directly from the state fire services (NH, NJ) or indirectly from the updated National Association of State Foresters database (AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, ID, IL, OK, SD) and included. This edition includes additional data from states/territories and years previously underrepresented, including Guam. These data were acquired from federal, state, and local wildfire reporting systems and are subject to inaccuracies and imprecision inherent in the original datasets. The wildfire records were acquired from the reporting systems of federal, state, and local fire organizations. These systems include the National Interagency Fire Management Integrated Database (USFS FIRESTAT archive), the USDI Wildland Fire Management Information (WFMI) system, the FWS Fire Management Information System, the National Association of State Foresters database, and the National Fire Incident Reporting System. FIRESTAT and WFMI were deprecated in 2020 and replaced by the Integrated Reporting of Wildland Fire Information (IRWIN) application and the Interagency Fire Occurrence Modules (InFORM). Records of fires in 2020-2024 that would have previously been archived in FIRESTAT and WFMI were acquired from IRWIN on 4/12/2022 and from InFORM thereafter. Additional data were acquired directly or indirectly from 33 U.S. states and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico. The ICS-209 module of the SIT209 program was used to obtain records of large fires otherwise missing from the dataset. See \Supplements\FPA_FOD_source_list.pdf (included in the full data publication download), for a list of sources and their acronyms. Once identified, candidate records were extracted and transformed to conform, as best as possible, to the data standards (https://www.nwcg.gov/data-standards) of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). The ability to conform the data to these standards was constrained by the level of adherence to those standards within the source reporting systems. After standardization, the data were screened for obvious errors and compiled into a single database. A multi-step process was then used to identify and purge redundant fire records. Identifiers necessary to link the point-based, final-fire-reporting information to published large-fire-perimeter and operational-situation-reporting datasets are included. More information regarding data-acquisition and processing is included in supporting documentation (Short 2014). Linkable, large-fire perimeter data are available at https://www.mtbs.gov/; research-ready ICS-209 situation-reporting data are available at https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/All-hazards_dataset_mined_from_the_US_National_Incident_Management_System_1999-2020/19858927 and described by St. Denis et al. (2020, 2023). 2026-06-15 withheld https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/catalog/RDS-2013-0009.7 https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/products/RDS-2013-0009.7/_metadata_RDS-2013-0009.7.html 5971 Feature class: A collection of geographic features with the same geometry type (such as point, line, or polygon), the same attributes, and the same spatial reference. ESRI GIS Dictionary S_USA.Fire_FPA_FOD_7th_NWCG_Units Feature Class 5971 OBJECTID Internal feature number. Esri Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. OBJECTID OID 4 10 0 UNITID Unique unit identifier assigned by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) NWCG Unit ID UNITID String 255 0 0 GEOGRAPHICAREA Two-letter code for the geographic area in which the unit is located. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) AK Alaska NWCG CA California NWCG EA Eastern Area NWCG CB Great Basin NWCG IN International NWCG NA National NWCG NR Northern Rockies NWCG NW Northwest NWCG RM Rocky Mountain NWCG SA Southern Area NWCG SW Southwest NWCG GEOGRAPHICAREA String 255 0 0 GACC Six- to eight-letter code for the Geographic Area Coordination Center in which the unit is located or primarily affiliated with. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) AUVIVIIC Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities NWCG CAMBCIFC Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre NWCG USAKCC Alaska Interagency Coordination Center NWCG USCAONCC Northern California Area Coordination Center NWCG USCAOSCC Southern California Area Coordination Center NWCG USCORMC Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center NWCG USGASAC Southern Area Coordination Center NWCG USIDNIC National Interagency Coordination Center NWCG USMTNRC Northern Rockies Area Coordination Center NWCG USNMSWC Southwest Area Coordination Center NWCG USORNWC Northwest Area Coordination Center NWCG USUTGBC Great Basin Area Coordination Center NWCG USWIEACC Eastern Area Coordination Center NWCG GACC String 255 0 0 WILDLANDROLE Role of the unit within the wildland fire community. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Textual description of role. WILDLANDROLE String 255 0 0 UNITTYPE Type of unit (e.g., federal, state, local). National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Description of unit type. UNITTYPE String 255 0 0 DEPARTMENT Department (or state/territory) to which the unit belongs. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) AK Alaska NWCG AL Alabama NWCG AR Arkansas NWCG AZ Arizona NWCG CA California NWCG CO Colorado NWCG CT Connecticut NWCG DE Delaware NWCG DHS Department of Homeland Security NWCG DOC Department of Commerce NWCG DOD Department of Defense NWCG DOE Department of Energy NWCG DOI Department of Interior NWCG DOL Department of Labor NWCG FL Florida NWCG GA Georgia NWCG HI Hawaii NWCG IA Iowa NWCG IA/GC Non-Departmental Agencies NWCG ID Idaho NWCG IL Illinois NWCG IN Indiana NWCG KS Kansas NWCG KY Kentucky NWCG LA Louisiana NWCG MA Massachusetts NWCG MD Maryland NWCG ME Maine NWCG MI Michigan NWCG MN Minnesota NWCG MO Missouri NWCG MS Mississippi NWCG MT Montana NWCG NC North Carolina NWCG NE Nebraska NWCG NG Non-Government NWCG NH New Hampshire NWCG NJ New Jersey NWCG NM New Mexico NWCG NV Nevada NWCG NY New York NWCG OH Ohio NWCG OK Oklahoma NWCG OR Oregon NWCG PA Pennsylvania NWCG PR Puerto Rico NWCG RI Rhode Island NWCG SC South Carolina NWCG SD South Dakota NWCG ST/L State or Local Government NWCG TN Tennessee NWCG Tribe Tribe NWCG TX Texas NWCG USDA Department of Agriculture NWCG UT Utah NWCG VA Virginia NWCG VI U.S. Virgin Islands NWCG VT Vermont NWCG WA Washington NWCG WI Wisconsin NWCG WV West Virginia NWCG WY Wyoming NWCG DEPARTMENT String 255 0 0 AGENCY Agency or bureau to which the unit belongs. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) AG Air Guard NWCG ANC Alaska Native Corporation NWCG BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs NWCG BLM Bureau of Land Management NWCG BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management NWCG BOR Bureau of Reclamation NWCG BSEE Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement NWCG C and L County and Local NWCG CDF California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection NWCG DC Department of Corrections NWCG DFE Division of Forest Environment NWCG DFF Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands NWCG DFL Division of Forests and Land NWCG DFR Division of Forest Resources NWCG DL Department of Lands NWCG DNR Department of Natural Resources NWCG DNRC Department of Natural Resources and Conservation NWCG DNRF Department of Natural Resources Forest Service NWCG DOA Department of Agriculture NWCG DOC Department of Conservation NWCG DOE Department of Energy NWCG DOF Department of Forestry NWCG DVF Division of Forestry NWCG DWF Division of Wildland Fire NWCG EPA Environmental Protection Agency NWCG FC Forestry Commission NWCG FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency NWCG FFC Bureau of Forest Fire Control NWCG FFP Forest Fire Protection NWCG FFS Forest Fire Service NWCG FR Forest Rangers NWCG FS Forest Service NWCG FWS Fish and Wildlife Service NWCG HQ Headquarters NWCG JC Job Corps NWCG NBC National Business Center NWCG NG National Guard NWCG NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration NWCG NPS National Park Service NWCG NWS National Weather Service NWCG OES Office of Emergency Services NWCG PRI Private NWCG SF State Forestry NWCG SFS State Forest Service NWCG SP State Parks NWCG TNC The Nature Conservancy NWCG USA United States Army NWCG USACE United States Army Corps of Engineers NWCG USAF United States Air Force NWCG USCG United States Coast Guard NWCG USGS United States Geological Survey NWCG USN United States Navy NWCG AGENCY String 255 0 0 COUNTRY Country in which the unit is located. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) AU Australia NWCG CA Canada NWCG NZ New Zealand NWCG US United States NWCG COUNTRY String 255 0 0 STATE Two-letter code for the state in which the unit is located (or primarily affiliated). National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Two-letter code for the state in which the unit is located (or primarily affiliated). STATE String 255 0 0 CODE Unit code (follows state code to create UnitId). National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Unit code (follows state code to create UnitId). CODE String 255 0 0 NAME Unit name. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Unit name NAME String 255 0 0 GLOBALID A type of UUID (Universal Unique Identifier) in which values are automatically assigned by the geodatabase when a row is created. Esri A type of UUID (Universal Unique Identifier) in which values are automatically assigned by the geodatabase when a row is created. GLOBALID globalid 0 0 0 FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998