Montazeri et al. (2026) Spatial and temporal changes in wildfires and their attributes across the western United States

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-30
• Authors: Amirhossein Montazeri, John T Abatzoglou, Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Karen C. Short, Erin J. Belval, Zachary A. Holden, Jennifer Pierce, Jodi Mead, Yavar Pourmohamad, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mojtaba Sadegh
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae58c0

Research Groups

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study analyzed wildfire activity in the Western United States from 1992 to 2020, revealing a 31% decrease in the number of ignitions but a 40% increase in burned area, primarily due to environmental conditions promoting larger fires and earlier human-caused ignitions.

Objective

• To examine changes in the number of wildfire ignitions and burned area across the Western United States from 1992 to 2020, and to analyze the environmental conditions associated with elevated fire activity.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Western United States (WUS), across biophysical gradients and ecoregions.
• Temporal Scale: 1992 to 2020, with comparative analysis between the periods 1992-2006 and 2007-2020.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly mentioned in the provided abstract.
• Data sources: Comprehensive record of more than 750,000 wildfire incidents from 1992 to 2020.

Main Results

• The annual number of recorded wildfires (>0.04 ha) in the WUS declined by 31% when comparing 1992-2006 to 2007-2020.
• Burned area increased by 40% over the same period.
• Burned area increased in both forested and non-forested areas, and for both human- and naturally-ignited fires.
• The greatest increase in burned area (84%) was observed in lightning-caused forest fires.
• The average day of year of ignition for human-caused wildfires shifted more than 12 days earlier (statistically significant), driven by an increasing number of springtime ignitions.
• Ignitions increasingly occurred on days with abnormally drier-hotter weather compared to their climatology.
• The median Energy Release Component (ERC) activation threshold associated with wildfire ignitions was approximately 42 (interquartile range: 34-50 across ecoregions).
• The median ERC activation threshold for fire size area was approximately 50 (interquartile range: 43-60).

Contributions

• Quantifies the counter-intuitive trend of decreasing wildfire ignitions but increasing burned area in the WUS, highlighting the dominant role of environmental conditions in fire size.
• Identifies significant shifts in the seasonality of human-caused ignitions towards earlier spring periods.
• Establishes specific Energy Release Component (ERC) activation thresholds for both wildfire ignitions and fire size, providing critical information for fire danger assessment.
• Provides foundational data and insights for the development of more effective wildfire prevention and mitigation strategies.

Funding

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Montazeri2026Spatial,
  author = {Montazeri, Amirhossein and Abatzoglou, John T and Prestemon, Jeffrey P. and Short, Karen C. and Belval, Erin J. and Holden, Zachary A. and Pierce, Jennifer and Mead, Jodi and Pourmohamad, Yavar and Asanjan, Ata Akbari and Sadegh, Mojtaba},
  title = {Spatial and temporal changes in wildfires and their attributes across the western United States},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae58c0},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae58c0}
}