Despite a hot start, the Alaska wildfire season finished well below normal, according to new figures from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.
Slightly over half a million acres burned in wildfires this year, the center reported. In an average Alaska fire season, wildfires burn approximately twice that.
Warm and dry conditions allowed the summer fire season to begin rapidly, but heavy rainfall in June and July across the Interior slowed the progression of fires. Those two months are traditionally the busiest ones of the fire season.
Last year, an exceptional fire season burned 5.1 million acres across Alaska. It was the second-largest fire season since recordkeeping began, and by far the largest fire season in the country.
This year, Alaska trails California, which has seen approximately 640,000 acres burned.
Most wildfires this year in Alaska were caused by humans. Fifty-nine percent had human sources and 41 percent were started by lightning.
The fire season began Feb. 22 with a spark caused by military training near Delta Junction. Twenty-six fires were “holdover” fires that had sources dating to 2015.
