The State of U.S. Wildfires Today

2025 is shaping up to be a historic year for climate impacts, with large wildfires raging and blowing smoke across the United States and the world. Smoke from one of Canada’s worst wildfire seasons in history has blanketed the Midwest and the East Coast and is only expected to worsen. Against this backdrop, the case for building resilience to these fires couldn’t be stronger, and the solutions and goals below must be deployed to better protect communities.

The U.S. is facing a worsening wildfire crisis driven by rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and outdated land and building practices. Since 2005, wildfires have destroyed over 129,000 buildings nationwide. According to the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, wildfires now cost the U.S. economy an estimated $400 to $900 billion annually. That cost includes health impacts, hospital stays, lost workdays, and even premature deaths as more people are exposed to the harmful effects of fire and smoke.

As of today, the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center states on its website: “There are currently 49 large fires burning across nine geographic areas nationwide. A total of 15,400 firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents, including 292 crews, 735 engines, and 93 helicopters. So far in 2025, 44,470 wildfires have been reported, for a total acreage of 3,997,080.”

Wildfire: A Threat Multiplier

The true cost of wildfire to the U.S. economy is vast, easily underestimated, and growing. A 2022 report highlights that wildfire-related costs go far beyond suppression—encompassing direct damages to timber, infrastructure, and homes, as well as indirect losses such as degraded water quality, post-fire flooding, public health impacts, and economic disruption.

This crisis is exacerbated by continued development in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). In this area, human development and infrastructure intermingle with wildland vegetation, creating higher wildfire risks and challenges in managing these risks. Warming is causing more frequent strong winds and dry air, expanding fire-prone areas beyond the WUI to grasslands, rainforests, and urban environments. The 2018 Camp Fire, 2021 Marshall Fire, 2023 Maui Fire, and 2025 Los Angeles fires demonstrate the devastating consequences of increasing wildfire risk to U.S. homes and businesses.

While recovery is difficult for any major disruption, the Government Accountability Office testified that wildfire recovery is 10 times harder than that of floods, hurricanes, and other disasters, due to the extent of damage to land and homes. Meanwhile, the return on investment (ROI) for proactive mitigation, including fuel treatments and home hardening, is substantial and well-documented. In its 2024 report, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that every $1 invested in resilience and disaster preparedness saves $13 in economic impact, damage, and cleanup costs after the event.

Government at all levels plays a crucial role in supporting and coordinating wildfire mitigation and preparedness for the benefit of community safety, economic security, public health, and forest health.

Why Federal Policy Matters

Federal spending on wildfire response doubled between 2011 and 2020 due to climate change, WUI development, and decades of accumulated fire deficit. Despite recent historic investments—over $20 billion through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—federal policy still disproportionately focuses on suppression, with some Members of Congress even advocating to return to outdated strategies. This includes the “10AM rule,” a policy adopted by the Forest Service in 1935 requiring the extinguishing of any fire by 10 a.m. the day after it was reported. While this protected timber and communities in the short term, it led to a buildup of combustible vegetation, known as “fuel,” intensifying the severity of future fires. This created the “wildfire paradox” where successful suppression can worsen long-term wildfire risk.

The 2023 Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission offered 148 federal policy recommendations to transition from reactive response to proactive resilience. Building on these through the Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator, C2ES is working to increase community resilience to wildfires through on-the-ground engagement in Colorado and beyond. After consulting with 27 local, national, and business leaders, C2ES offers five goals for federal wildfire policy that reflect opportunity for significant impact and broad support.

Five Goals for Federal Policy

Through federal leadership, we can reduce the intensity and cost of future wildfires, protect infrastructure, homes, and lives, and equip communities with tools for long-term resilience.
• Secure Power Systems
• Strong Infrastructure
• Cleaner Air
• Safe and Skilled Workforce
• Healthy Lands

Secure Power Systems

Electric utilities are critical to maintaining essential services during disasters, yet they are increasingly threatened by wildfires and can also be a source of ignition. However, the lack of consistent regulatory guidance has created a patchwork of state-level requirements and utility-driven wildfire mitigation plans, with no standardized best practices for permitting or implementing risk reduction work.

Goal #1: Empower utilities with clear guidance and industry standards for wildfire readiness to streamline planning, reduce costs, and improve coordination among utilities—especially smaller providers and co-ops—state energy offices, and land management agencies, helping to build a more reliable and fire-resilient grid. Invest in research and development (R&D) partnerships for utilities to pilot advanced fire prediction technologies, such as Xcel Energy’s use of AI to detect and mitigate wildfires in Texas.

Strong Infrastructure

Proactive mitigation measures across the built environment help protect communities from wildfire by reducing risks to homes, infrastructure, and critical services. Implementing comprehensive fire-resilient building practices, including creating buffers around buildings, hardening exteriors, and using noncombustible materials, offers promising solutions in high-risk areas. This year, for example, Colorado adopted a Wildfire Resiliency Code and passed a new law requiring premium discounts or underwriting adjustments for homeowners who implement proven mitigation strategies. The state also supports resilience hubs through an annual technical assistance and grant program.

Goal #2: Remove financial barriers and incentivize local risk-reduction efforts, including faster deployment of post-fire resources and enabling wildfire-ready building codes and construction. Federal programs can support wildfire-resilient building codes and land use policies, which are adopted at the local and state levels and include the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. Wildfire Prepared is a system of mitigation actions that addresses both the structure and defensible space (Wildfire Prepared Home and Home Plus) and the neighborhood (Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood) from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), which is receiving growing recognition from insurers. Investments can also support resilience hubs and microgrids at critical and community-serving facilities that can augment local emergency response capacity.

Cleaner Air

Communities across the U.S. are increasingly experiencing harmful smoke events, both from unplanned wildfires and the growing use of prescribed fire. While prescribed burns are a necessary tool for long-term wildfire risk reduction, they can still pose short-term health risks if not carefully managed. Wildfire smoke disproportionately harms vulnerable populations, including seniors, children, outdoor workers, people with asthma or cardiovascular disease, and communities lacking access to healthcare or safe indoor environments. Although Tribal, state, and local public health agencies often have strong community ties and local knowledge, they lack sufficient capacity, training, and resources to prepare for and respond to these growing health threats.

Goal #3: Promote smoke-ready communities and minimize the health impacts of both wildfires and prescribed fire. Federal and state agencies must coordinate to align land management and air quality goals while ensuring communities are equipped to manage smoke exposure. This includes training healthcare providers, investing in air quality improvements, supporting public outreach and education, and developing best practices for risk reduction—especially in high-risk and underserved areas.

Safe and Skilled Workforce

Wildfire is no longer just a land management issue—it requires a cross-sector workforce that integrates fire response, proactive fuels reduction, forest and land stewardship, emergency services, planning, and public health to meet the complexity of today’s challenges. As wildfires grow more intense and seasons extend, workforce demand is surging while existing responders face burnout, mental health strain, and insufficient support. While state and local fire services, the private sector, and non-federal responders are critical to both proactive mitigation and emergency response, they remain largely disconnected from federal wildfire operations. At the same time, the federal firefighting workforce—especially within the U.S. Forest Service—is under pressure from hiring freezes, inadequate pay, and limited training opportunities. With only one prescribed fire training center in the country and the expiration of federal firefighter pay increases, the ability to attract, train, and retain qualified personnel is rapidly eroding.

Goal #4: Strengthen and engage the non-federal workforce while stabilizing and investing in federal firefighting and mitigation teams. Increase capacity for the U.S. Fire Administration to expand community-based training, foster coordination between local and federal responders, and promote fire-adapted communities. Programs like Colorado’s Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) demonstrate how state-federal partnerships can enhance workforce development and proactive mitigation. Simultaneously, Congress must address compensation gaps, improve benefits, and expand training infrastructure—such as additional prescribed fire centers—to meet the growing demand for skilled wildfire professionals and ensure a sustainable, high-quality workforce across sectors, including public health.

Healthy Lands

Existing federal performance metrics, such as acres treated or timber volume harvested, fail to capture the full range of outcomes needed to address wildfire risk in today’s context. Furthermore, because wildfire impacts cross state, Tribal, federal, and private lands, collaboration among diverse actors is essential to ensure forward-thinking stewardship of important lands. However, fragmented authorities, differing regulations, and inconsistent management capacities often hinder effective strategies. Multi-benefit land management approaches—those that integrate forest health, community safety, and resource protection—are more effective but remain difficult to implement without structural support.

Goal #5: Update land management performance metrics and support landscape-scale solutions to reflect desired outcomes that improve both forest and community health. There is widespread agreement that new outcome-based metrics are needed, such as the number of protected assets, communities protected, local partnerships, watershed conditions, and healthy forests and rangeland. At the same time, we must empower landscape-scale action between state, local, and Tribal partners for more effective wildfire risk reduction across jurisdictions, including prescribed burns and new uses of woody biomass. For example, capacity-building programs and “forests to faucets” initiatives that span multiple jurisdictions, such as Coalitions & Collaboratives, the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative, and the Peaks to People Water Fund, should be supported and replicated.

A Path Forward

These five policy goals reflect a holistic and broadly supported approach to wildfire resilience, advancing community safety, economic stability, and forest health. Through federal leadership, we can empower local communities to implement solutions that fit their unique needs, while simplifying programs to reduce barriers, expand access, and expedite the processes for both planning and recovery.

Realistically, addressing these goals will require investments in funding and staff capacity. First, we must maximize the impact of existing funds, protecting programs that have proven beneficial to communities and businesses, while continuing to build a case for future investments.

Policymakers, businesses, and community leaders all have a role to play in ensuring the nation is better prepared for the wildfire risks of today and tomorrow. Community exchange can speed recovery by sharing hard-earned lessons, as Superior, CO’s recovery leaders did—drawing on their experience from the 2021 Marshall Fire to help shape Project Recovery: Rebuilding Los Angeles After The January 2025 Wildfires.

C2ES will continue to support community and cross-sector partnerships and advance public policy solutions as we expand the Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator to new vulnerable regions across the United States.