Arizona fire officials say the state experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons in nearly a decade last year.
According to the Department of Forestry and Fire Management, more than 2,500 fires burned nearly 980,000 acres of state, federal and tribal land in 2020.
In 2019, about 385,000 acres burned. More than 80 percent of last year’s wildfires were human caused. Officials had predicted an explosive fire season because of an overgrowth of fuels especially across central Arizona. It was also unusually dry and warm.
The only recent year to eclipse 2020 for fires was 2011 with more than a million acres in Arizona burned.
