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Cause profile

Debris & open burning
fires

535,851 wildfire and 0 structure-fire incidents attributed to debris & open burning across the US in 1992–2020. They scorched 7,793,318 acres.

29 years tracked $0 property loss 50 states · 50 counties
Total incidents
535,851
1992–2020
Property loss
$0
NFIRS structure fires only
Civilian casualties
0 / 0
deaths / injuries
Avg per year
18,478
incidents / yr
01 Long-term trend

How debris & open burning fires have changed

Debris burning peaks in spring (yard cleanup) and fall (leaf burning).

199220062020
02 Top states

Where debris & open burning fires concentrate

50 states ranked by cumulative debris & open burning incidents.

GA
100,916 · 475,258 ac TX
70,767 · 875,037 ac NC
49,367 · 193,843 ac SC
28,538 · 177,522 ac AL
24,673 · 245,560 ac MS
24,243 · 296,932 ac CA
20,861 · 489,568 ac MN
17,398 · 308,119 ac FL
15,281 · 371,965 ac TN
13,585 · 99,098 ac WI
11,923 · 32,185 ac KY
11,348 · 378,976 ac AR
10,832 · 132,523 ac MO
9,934 · 149,042 ac NY
8,699 · 15,662 ac WV
8,566 · 87,891 ac OK
8,250 · 688,133 ac VA
8,182 · 63,202 ac WA
6,755 · 147,061 ac OR
6,520 · 111,112 ac SD
6,508 · 199,124 ac KS
5,857 · 181,679 ac AZ
5,774 · 145,401 ac PA
5,439 · 12,657 ac LA
5,354 · 79,692 ac
03 Top counties

Debris & open burning hotspots by county

Top 50 counties by cumulative debris & open burning incidents.

#CountyStateIncidentsAcres
1 Laurens County GA 2,723 7,072 ac
2 Upshur County TX 2,326 8,232 ac
3 Smith County TX 1,985 11,194 ac
4 Cherokee County TX 1,939 9,723 ac
5 Rusk County TX 1,748 9,760 ac
6 Dodge County GA 1,574 6,213 ac
7 Decatur County GA 1,532 5,414 ac
8 Jasper County TX 1,424 9,980 ac
9 Cass County TX 1,405 7,457 ac
10 Bowie County TX 1,349 10,613 ac
11 Wood County TX 1,348 6,310 ac
12 Hidalgo County TX 1,332 2,380 ac
13 Harrison County TX 1,298 8,483 ac
14 Orangeburg County SC 1,264 4,487 ac
15 St. Louis County MN 1,245 3,823 ac
16 Emanuel County GA 1,243 6,578 ac
17 Berrien County GA 1,234 5,480 ac
18 Coffee County GA 1,215 5,713 ac
19 McLennan County TX 1,198 2,831 ac
20 Grimes County TX 1,197 6,777 ac
21 Bulloch County GA 1,190 4,695 ac
22 Bastrop County TX 1,190 4,669 ac
23 Lowndes County GA 1,173 5,987 ac
24 Williamsburg County SC 1,158 5,931 ac
25 Anderson County TX 1,147 12,445 ac
26 Appling County GA 1,144 4,065 ac
27 Telfair County GA 1,137 4,152 ac
28 Baldwin County AL 1,127 16,728 ac
29 Titus County TX 1,092 5,659 ac
30 Plymouth County MA 1,083 358 ac
31 Burke County GA 1,073 7,912 ac
32 Navarro County TX 1,068 9,728 ac
33 Brooks County GA 1,062 4,968 ac
34 Mitchell County GA 1,062 3,955 ac
35 Montgomery County TX 1,055 6,239 ac
36 Worth County GA 1,049 5,601 ac
37 Hunt County TX 1,047 5,452 ac
38 Colquitt County GA 1,042 3,293 ac
39 Toombs County GA 1,035 3,327 ac
40 Erath County TX 1,030 14,529 ac
41 Grady County GA 1,019 2,813 ac
42 Jeff Davis County GA 1,003 3,031 ac
43 Twiggs County GA 1,003 3,463 ac
44 Mobile County AL 1,002 16,540 ac
45 Treutlen County GA 979 2,013 ac
46 Colleton County SC 953 6,325 ac
47 Screven County GA 952 4,111 ac
48 Washington County GA 951 4,841 ac
49 Tift County GA 942 2,222 ac
50 Hill County TX 925 7,479 ac

About this data

FireVerge's cause profiles use the 13 ignition categories defined by the FPA FOD (Fire Program Analysis Fire-Occurrence Database, 6th edition: 2.3M wildfire records, 1992–2020). NFIRS CAUSE_IGN codes from 11.4M structure incidents (2021–2025) are cross-classified into the same taxonomy where they align cleanly. Wildfires (FOD) and structure fires (NFIRS) are tracked as separate sources because their data captures very different things — FOD records every wildfire ignition in the US, while NFIRS counts emergency-department responses.