Fire declarations

FEMA has issued 3,530 county-level disaster declarations classified as fire, affecting 991 counties across 38 states. Combined public and individual assistance obligations for this disaster type total $5.4B.

The states with the highest concentration of fire declarations are Texas, California, and Florida. Each state page links to county-level detail pages where the specific timeline and spending breakdowns for fire events can be reviewed.

A disaster declaration is a formal determination by the President (or FEMA administrator for emergency declarations) that federal assistance is needed. Not every natural event results in a declaration — the state must request one, and FEMA evaluates the damage relative to state and local capacity. The declaration count on this page reflects the number of county-level records in the federal datasets, not the number of individual storms or events.