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Three-decade record of contiguous-U.S. national forest wildfires indicates increased density of ignitions near roads

https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/updated-summary-roads-and-fire-.pdf

Results: From 1992 to 2024, in all 8 contiguous-US Forest Service regions combined, wildfire-ignition density was lowest in designated wilderness areas (1.7 fires/1,000 hectares), followed closely by that in Inventoried Roadless Areas (1.9 fires/1,000 ha). The highest wildfire-ignition density was in lands within 50 meters of roads (7.4 fires/1,000 ha), and the second highest wildfire-ignition density was in lands outside of the 100-m road buffers, but not in wilderness or roadless areas (3.5 fires/1,000 ha).

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