The 2024 Washington wildfire season were a series of

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s that had been burning throughout the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Events

Predictions for the 2024 fire season made by the

National Interagency Fire Center The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho is the physical facility which is the home to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC), and the National Multi-Agency Coordination group (NMAC or MAC). The center works clo ...

in June 2024 included temperatures above normal and precipitation below normal, due to the ENSO transition to a

La Niña La Niña (; ) is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern. The name ''La Niña'' originates from Spanish for "the girl", by ...

pattern, resulting in an above normal fire potential for

Western Washington Western Washington is a region of the United States defined as the area of Washington state west of the Cascade Mountains. This region is home to the state's largest city, Seattle, the state capital, Olympia, and most of the state's residents. ...

in July through September. On July 10, the

Washington State Department of Natural Resources The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages over of forest, range, agricultural, and commercial lands in the U.S. state of Washington. The DNR also manages of aquatic areas which include shorelines, tidelands, lands un ...

announced a

burn ban A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

on its lands that would last until at least September 30. The ban was issued in response to several large, human-caused wildfires amid the statewide drought emergency and drier-than-normal weather across Washington. The largest fire at the time was the Pioneer Fire in the

Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest The Okanogan National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Okanogan County in north-central Washington, United States. The forest is bordered on the north by British Columbia, on the east by Colville National Forest, on the south by the ...

near

Lake Chelan Lake Chelan ( ) is a narrow, long lake in Chelan County, north-central Washington state, U.S. Before 1927, it was the largest natural lake in the state by any measure. Upon the completion of Lake Chelan Dam in 1927, the elevation of the lake ...

, which had grown to more than . On October 30, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources announced the end of the 2024 fire season. Over 300,000 acres were burned by wildfires in Washington state in 2024.https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/oct/11/wildfires-torch-over-300000-acres-in-washington-th/

List of wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than , or produced significant structural damage or casualties.

References

{{2024 wildfires

Wildfires in Washington (state) by year

Events

List of wildfires

See also

References