2021 Arizona wildfires
| 2021 Arizona wildfires | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Smoke over parts of Arizona on June 21 due to an outbreak of wildfires in the state | |||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||
| Total fires | 1,773 | ||||||||||||
| Total area | 524,428 acres (212,228 ha) | ||||||||||||
| Impacts | |||||||||||||
| Deaths | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Season | |||||||||||||
← 2020
2022 → | |||||||||||||
Wildfires across the US state of Arizona burned 524,428 acres (212,228 ha) of land in at least 1,773 fires, fueled in part by a drought, hot temperatures, and thunderstorms producing dry lightning. At one point in late June, over 20 active wildfires were burning across the state.
The total acres burned between the start of the year and the end of June was 22% more than during the same period of the preceding season, which itself was the most active in nearly a decade. The spike in wildfires in Arizona during the summer was due to an ongoing megadrought that is occurring in the Southwestern United States, as well as a heat wave with many western cities hitting record-breaking temperatures.