The wet weather of 2018 produced a year light on wildfire in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
A total of 690 wildfires were reported last year. They ranged from less than an acre to nearly 690 acres, and altogether burned through a total 1,843 acres, which was less than half the 10-year average of 4,000 acres per year.
“Pennsylvania’s 2018 wildfire season was relatively short-lived in the spring, resulting in below-average instances of acres burned,’” explained Mike Kern, chief of DCNR's Bureau of Forestry’s Forest Fire Protection section. “Heavy summer and fall rains resulted in an extremely low number of fires after July.”
Human carelessness caused about 80 percent of 2018’s wildfires. Debris burning accounted for the most wildfires in 2018, with 424 incidents scorching 1,325 acres. A total of 58 fires, burning 146 acres, were labeled arson. Campfires, equipment use, fireworks and smoking accounted for 72 wildfires throughout the state.
DCNR defines a wildfire as “an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or rural area.”
Pennsylvania has been tracking wildfires since 1913, when 937 fires burned a record 386.267 acres.
The most fires in any one year – 4,898 – occurred in 1932. They burned through 95,141 acres.
Prior to 1950 there were thousands of fires every year.
After 1950 the yearly total gradually fell to less than 2,000, and in some years there were less than 1,000.
After 1990, most years Pennsylvania saw less 1,000 wildfires, and since 2000 there have been no years with more than 1,000.
Hundreds of thousands of acres were burned every year through 1923. The annual total dropped to less than 100,000 acres per year every year after 1934, except 1941. It fell to less than 10,000 acres per year in most years after 1969 and less than 5,000 acres per year in most years after 1990.
Here’s a look at the past 10 years. In 2018, 690 wildfires burned a total of 1,843 acres, averaging 2.67 acres per fire; 2017, 534 wildfires, 1,649 acres total, 3.09 acres average; 2016, 853 wildfires, 12,190 acres total, 14.3 acres average; 2015, 817 wildfires, 4,165 acres total, 5.1 acres average; 2014, 871 wildfires, 4,514 acres total, 5.18 acres average; 2013, 632 wildfires, 1,790 acres total, 2.83 acres average; 2012, 717 wildfires, 3,193 acres total, 4.45 acres average; 2011, 202 wildfires, 582 acres total, 2.88 acres average; 2010, 547 wildfires, 3,414 acres total, 5.95 acres average; 2009, 619 wildfires, 6,068 acres total, 9.8 acres average.
According to DCNR, the greatest danger of wildfires in Pennsylvania is during the spring months of March, April and May, and the autumn months of October and November. In Pennsylvania, 98 percent of our wildfires are caused by people.
Certain conditions are necessary for a wildfire to occur: An available fuel source, such as grasslands or fields; dry conditions, including the fuel source; and an ignition source (some way for the fire to start).
The first two factors occur most frequently in Pennsylvania during the spring and autumn. As the spring sun climbs higher in the sky, days become longer and warmer. The trees are bare during this time allowing the sunlight to reach the forest floor, warming the ground and drying the previous fall’s leaves.
In addition, the winds in spring are often very strong and dry, leading to a tremendous amount of fuel ready to burn. During the fall, the leaves turn color and begin to fall, accumulating in a deep fluffy layer that creates a fire hazard.
The third factor -- ignition source -- also occurs during those periods. One of the major causes of forest fires in Pennsylvania is debris burning. Those fires most frequently start in someone’s backyard and travel through dead grass and weeds into the bordering woodlands.
DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry is responsible for protecting the state’s 17 million acres of public and private wildlands from damage by wildfire through prevention, preparedness, suppression and investigation.
The bureau works with fire wardens and volunteer fire departments to promote the latest advances in fire prevention and suppression.
Pennsylvania wildland firefighters also fight blazes throughout the nation.
While media often give more coverage to spectacular western wildfires, more fires occur east of the Mississippi River than west.
Census figures for the first decades of the 21st century show more people in the Northeastern U.S. moving from suburban to rural areas to make their home near or within the forest. Firefighters call the area where homes and development meet and intermingle with undeveloped wildland the wildland-urban interface.”
Pennsylvania has a higher percentage of homes in the wildland-urban interface than any other state in the nation.
People moving into the wildland-urban interface often make choices that increase the potential for their homes to be destroyed by wildfire.
DCNR urges homeowners to help prevent wildfires through preparation. The agency recommends that homeowners:
- Keep their chimneys clean and install spark arrestors.
- Keep their roofs clear of leaves, needles and other debris.
- Keep 100 feet of garden hose attached to an external outlet.
- Keep fire tools available, including shovel, rake and ladder.
- Remove all but scattered trees within 30 feet of structures.
- From 30-75 feet around a structure, thin and prune coniferous trees.
- Avoid outdoor burning.
- Keep woodpiles 25 feet from structures and fuel tanks.
- Keep grass green and mowed within 100 feet of any structure.
- Keep driveways accessible for fire trucks and provide a turn-around area.
- Keep burnable materials from under and around all structures.