A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases in area burned

Rapid increases in wildfire area burned across North American forests pose novel challenges for managers and society. Increasing area burned raises questions about whether, and to what degree, contemporary fire regimes (1984–2022) are still departed from historical fire regimes (pre-1880). We use the North American tree-ring fire-scar network (NAFSN), a multi-century record comprising >1800 fire-scar sites spanning diverse forest types, and contemporary fire perimeters to ask whether there is a contemporary fire surplus or fire deficit, and whether recent fire years are unprecedented relative to historical fire regimes. Our results indicate, despite increasing area burned in recent decades, that a widespread…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

  Award: 11974
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• UG
  U.S. Geological Survey
• UF
  U.S. Forest Service
• CP
  Climate Program Office
• RM
  Rocky Mountain Research Station