NASA Reports Record High Wildfire Damage This Season
NASA Reports Record High Wildfire Damage This Season
Updated at: July 9, 2026 at 09:01 AM
The 2026 wildfire season is off to an intense start in the United States, with NASA reporting that burned acreage is currently 46% higher than the 10-year average.
This surge is largely driven by a winter with record-low snowpack and an unusually hot, dry start to summer, which has left forests and grasslands highly vulnerable to ignition.
The Great Basin and Rocky Mountains have been hit particularly hard, with Utah experiencing significant devastation.
The Cottonwood Fire, for example, destroyed roughly 150 structures, including numerous cabins and condominiums at the Eagle Point Ski Resort.
While the total number of fires has remained relatively stable since the 1980s, their intensity and size have increased dramatically.
NASA continues to monitor these disasters in near real-time using satellite technology like Landsat 8 and 9, and the VIIRS instruments.
Tools such as FIRMS and Worldview are essential for tracking fire behavior and assessing damage, helping officials manage forest health as warmer nighttime temperatures allow blazes to burn longer and more aggressively than ever before.
