8.3 Million Acres Burned Nationwide, Decade High, as Washington Fast-Tracks Salvage Logging on Torched State Land

Since the Hawk Fire tore into Reno's northern neighborhoods in late August, forcing roughly 42,000 people to evacuate and putting another 45,000 on standby, the 2026 wildfire season has climbed to the worst acreage total in at least ten years.

More than 8.3 million acres have burned nationwide as of September 5, across 53,030 fires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That's up from 7.7 million acres by late August, and it dwarfs the roughly 4 million acres burned by the same point in 2025.

NIFC's own ten-year comparison, spanning January 1 through September 5 of each year since 2016, confirms 2026 as the worst on record in that window. The 2017 season came closest at 7.9 million acres. The 2023 season, by contrast, saw just 2.1 million acres burned, less than a quarter of this year's total.

Federal officials raised the National Preparedness Level to its highest setting for much of the summer before dropping it to Level 4 on September 4 as conditions eased in some regions. As of September 5, crews were still fighting 78 large fires with nearly 17,812 firefighters and support personnel assigned, per NIFC. Washington and Montana each have 13 active large fires, followed by Idaho with 12 and Oregon with 9.

Oregon has taken the biggest hit by far, with 1,199,105 acres burned this year, according to NIFC. Washington is a distant second at 398,064 acres.

The Hawk Fire and Reno's evacuation

The Hawk Fire started August 22 in the Sierra Nevada foothills and grew past 15,000 acres within a day, according to NPR, which cited InciWeb data. Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Shane Akerson confirmed the fire was human-caused, though the exact circumstances remained under investigation. Six people, including three first responders, were injured, and several properties were destroyed as roughly 800 emergency personnel fought the blaze.

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo activated the National Guard and declared a state of emergency in Washoe County. Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam urged residents in standby zones to leave voluntarily, saying it would make the firefighters' job easier.

Washington moves to salvage burned timber before it rots

Washington state has recorded its worst wildfire season on state-managed trust land since recordkeeping began in 2000, with 93,000 acres burned on state trust land out of more than 886,000 acres statewide, according to The Washington State Standard, republished by The Chronicle in Chehalis. Two-thirds of that state land was forest, hitting a revenue source that funds schools and local government.

The state's Board of Natural Resources voted this week to raise the threshold for salvage timber sales the Department of Natural Resources can approve without board sign-off, from $250,000 to $2 million. Michael Kearney, the department's product sales and leasing division manager, said the change cuts roughly two months off the time needed to bring burned timber to auction. Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove described it as a way to maximize value for the trust.

Even so, officials say they can't harvest most of what burned. Kearney estimated the department will only reach about 4,000 of the roughly 60,000 fire-scarred acres of state forest, well under 10 percent, citing capacity and time constraints. Alfred Watson, the department's regional manager for northeast Washington, noted competition from tribal, private and federal landowners also selling burned timber into the same market.

The staffing fight

Truthout, citing data from the National Federation of Federal Employees, reported that more than 6,000 U.S. Forest Service employees were let go amid Department of Government Efficiency cuts, and that the union estimates 57 of 77 fire-related research labs have been shuttered. The outlet also reported the Forest Service's workforce is down 16 percent since President Trump's January 2025 inauguration, and that prescribed-burn acreage has dropped 35 percent.

The Trump administration has framed the changes differently, consolidating four federal firefighting systems into a single U.S. Wildland Fire Service and describing the move as eliminating redundancy rather than cutting capability. The administration is also relocating Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City and closing nine regional offices.

NIFC's own data does not attribute this year's record acreage to staffing levels. The agency instead points to widespread dry fuels, red-flag wind conditions like those that drove the Hawk Fire, and a broader Western drought. Whether reduced prescribed-burn treatment played a measurable role in this season's scale remains an open question the agency has not addressed publicly, and no independent audit tying the acreage totals to workforce cuts has been published.

With preparedness now at Level 4 rather than the season's peak of Level 5, NIFC says late summer and fall remain dangerous because vegetation is still exceptionally dry across much of the country, meaning new ignitions, human-caused or otherwise, are still a live risk into the fall.