This map was generated using the Fosberg Fire Index.
It does not predict fires, but describes the behavior if a fire were to occur in a specific area.
The Fosberg Fire Index is based on weather factors including temperature, humidity, and precipitation.

Higher values indicate that a fire would burn more intensely and spread further in a specific area.

Data for this map is gathered online using a Python webscraper.
The map itself is generated using Leaflet for R.


Further information on the Fosberg Fire Index can be found here.

Wildfires covered an average of about 500,000 acres each year in Calfornia, from 1987 to 2016.

In 2017 alone, wildfires burned 1,248,606 acres in California.

The Thomas Fire (December 2017) became the largest wildfire in California history, covering 281,893 acres.

The Cedar Fire (October 2003) was previously the largest wildfire in California history, covering 273,246 acres.

Started in July 2018, the Mendocino complex fires are the largest fire in California history, covering 304,402 acres as of August 9th.

Numerous wildfires are burning concurrently, including the Carr fire(177,450 acres) and the Ferguson fire(95,104 acres).

Sources: CALFire 2017 Statistics , Factsheet , Incident Report , Sacramento Bee Maps