10 of the World’s Largest Fires

What are 10 of the World’s Largest Fires?

Large wildfires are often categorized by the total land area they consume. Based on historical records, here are 10 of the world’s largest fires by area burned:

Fire Event

Location

Year

Area Burned (Approx.)

New South Wales Bushfires

Australia

1974–75

117 million hectares

Siberian Taiga Fires

Russia, China, Mongolia

2003

22.5 million hectares

Black Summer Bushfires

Australia

2019–20

19 million hectares

Russian Wildfires

Russia

2021

18.2 million hectares

Canadian Wildfires

Canada

2023

15 million hectares

Black Dragon Fire

China and Russia

1987

7.3 million hectares

Northwest Territories Fires

Canada

2014

3.4 million hectares

Manitoba Fires

Canada

1989

3.3 million hectares

Black Friday Fires

Australia

1939

2 million hectares

Great Fire of 1919

Canada

1919

2 million hectares

These events highlight the devastating impact of wildfires when extreme weather conditions, such as drought and heat, combine with available fuel sources. While some fires are a natural part of an ecosystem, human-driven climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of these catastrophic events globally.¹

How does climate change influence the frequency and intensity of wildfires?

Anthropogenic climate change significantly influences the frequency and intensity of wildfires primarily through rising global temperatures and shifts in precipitation patterns.⁵

These climatic changes drive several critical environmental conditions:

• Increased Drought Severity: Rising temperatures and altered rainfall lead to more frequent and prolonged droughts. Under these conditions, vegetation dries out more rapidly and completely, significantly increasing the amount of available fuel for fires.⁵
• Extreme Fire Weather: Human-driven global warming has increased the likelihood of extreme fire-weather conditions. For example, studies indicate that such conditions—which fueled events like the 2019–20 Australian bushfires—have become at least 30 percent more likely since 1900.⁵
• Rising Frequency and Intensity: Research shows that wildfires are becoming both more common and more intense worldwide. The frequency of the most extreme wildfire events more than doubled between 2000 and 2023, and the annual loss of tree cover due to wildfires grew by over 3 million hectares between 2001 and 2023.⁵

What are some natural benefits of fire for forest ecosystems?

While wildfires are often viewed as destructive, they play a vital role in maintaining the health and balance of many forest ecosystems. When occurring at historical frequencies, fire provides several natural benefits:

• Nutrient Cycling: Fire consumes woody material and debris, leaving behind ash that fertilizes the soil with essential minerals.⁷⁸
• Vegetation Management: By clearing accumulated vegetation and reducing competition, fire prevents the encroachment of unwanted species and maintains the structural balance of the forest.⁹⁵¹⁰
• Disease and Pest Control: Periodic burning helps decrease the prevalence of plant diseases and insect infestations that can otherwise devastate a forest.⁹⁸
• Regeneration and Germination: Many species are fire-adapted and depend on fire to reproduce. Some plants require the heat of a blaze to melt resinous coatings on their seeds, while others rely on chemical signals from smoke and charred matter to break seed dormancy.¹¹⁸
• Hazard Reduction: Regular, low-intensity fires prevent the buildup of unnatural fuel loads, which helps mitigate the risk of more extreme, uncontrollable conflagrations in the future.⁹⁵⁸

What is a firestorm and how does it differ from a typical wildfire?

A firestorm is a distinct and exceptionally violent phenomenon characterized by continuous, intense fire that generates its own powerful weather system. Unlike a typical wildfire, which is an uncontrolled fire in a natural landscape that may be influenced by external weather conditions, a firestorm creates its own violent surface indrafts as hot air rises rapidly from the burning fuel.¹²¹³

Key differences include:

• Atmospheric Dynamics: A firestorm creates a powerful updraft that pulls in strong, gusty winds from the surrounding area, sometimes resulting in tornado-like whirls of flame.¹²¹⁴
• Scale and Intensity: While wildfires can vary in intensity and are often manageable through firefighting efforts like fire lines or backfires, a firestorm is so vast and intense that it is generally beyond human intervention.¹²¹³
• Duration: A firestorm typically subsides only after it has consumed all available combustible material in the immediate locality.¹²
• Origin: While wildfires are often ignited by natural causes like lightning or human activity, the term firestorm is frequently associated with massive conflagrations, including those triggered by incendiary or nuclear attacks.⁵¹⁴¹³