Global Wildfire Area Burned in 2025 Second-Lowest Since 2002

A new analysis of global wildfire activity in 2025 found that the year recorded the second-lowest area burned worldwide since 2002. The study, published May 31 in the peer-reviewed British journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, also documented some of the most destructive fire events in recent history.

Matthew Jones, report lead author at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, stated that 2025 shows a growing disconnect between total area burned and real-world impacts. " Catastrophic wildfires across Canada, the United States, Europe, and South Korea produced more than 300,000 evacuations and over 90 deaths.

The study found that 2025 became the costliest year on record for insured wildfire losses globally, with wildfires accounting for 38 percent of all insured natural hazard losses.

The Los Angeles fires of January 2025 caused $40 billion in insured losses and $140 billion in total losses. Those fires ranked as the fifth most costly natural disaster in history in terms of insured losses.

U.S. History. Fueled by large stocks of critically dry vegetation and extreme winds, the fires killed 31 people, destroyed nearly 12,000 homes, and forced over 150,000 evacuations. They also produced hazardous air pollution affecting 10 million residents.

Jones stated that the wildfires of 2025 demonstrate that without decisive action, societies will continue to face escalating human, economic and environmental risks in an era of more extreme fires. The authors called for rapid reductions in fossil fuel emissions to limit further climate warming and far stronger adaptation including proactive vegetation management.