NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Dry and warm conditions were conducive to fire activity throughout much of the West during July. However, the number of acres burned through the end of the month was far less than in 2002. Montana, Washington and Idaho all had large fires in July 2003. The Glacier fire forced the closure of parts of Glacier National Park to visitors for part of the month.
| As of August 3 | Nationwide Number of Fires | Nationwide Number of Acres Burned |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 37,239 | 1,833,799 |
| 2002 | 53,470 | 4,440,765 |
| 2001 | 50,292 | 1,546,227 |
| 10-year Average | 61,932 | 3,766,665 |
One the major fires in early July was the Aspen fire in Coronado National Forest in Arizona. Well over 84,000 acres were burned in that fire alone. Pre-instrumental evidence in the Southwest provides hundreds of years of fire scar evidence for the region. By gaining a multi-century perspective, one clear conclusion is that since 1900, fires have been less extensive mostly due to fire suppression strategies.
