The 2017 wildfire season involved wildfires on multiple continents. On Greenland, which is mostly covered by ice and permafrost, multiple fires occurred in melted peat bogs, described as "unusual, and possibly unprecedented". Popular media asked whether the wildfires were related to global warming. Research published by NASA states "climate change has increased fire risk in many regions", but caused "greater severity in the colder latitudes" where

boreal Boreal may refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch *Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...

and temperate forests exist, and scholars have described "a warm weather fluctuation that has become more frequent in recent decades" related to wildfires, without naming any particular event as being directly caused by global warming. Below is a partial list of articles on wildfires from around the world in the year 2017.

Africa

* 2017 Knysna fires, South Africa

Asia

2017 Southeast Asian haze The 2017 Southeast Asian Haze was a transnational haze crisis that started in late July, 2017. The Singaporean National Environment Agency said in June that the number of hotspots in Sumatra due to farmers using the " slash-and-burn" technique t ...

Europe

Depopulation of rural areas of Europe was also described as contributing to fires in Portugal and France. The wildfires near the Calampiso seaside resort west of Palermo, forced the evacuation by boat of more than 700 tourists on July 12. More bushfires broke out across southern Italy and Sicily, as temperatures hit 40 °C in the week leading up to July 13. About 23 wildfires raged in southern Italy on Wednesday, including on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius near Naples. Two were north of Mount Etna, in the suburbs of Sicilian city of Catania on the 13th. Italy's environment minister said a man had been arrested on suspicion of arson and Gian Luca Galletti was quoted as saying in Italian media, : “If someone set fire to Vesuvius, I want to see them in jail for 15 years,” on July 13. 150 hectares of pine forest were destroyed in a blaze in Sicily a month earlier. Some 15 wildfires were reported in Albania on August 5 and others occurred elsewhere in the Balkans and a few other parts of Southern Europe. *

June 2017 Portugal wildfires A series of four initial deadly wildfires erupted across central Portugal in the afternoon of 17 June 2017 within minutes of each other, resulting in at least 66 deaths and 204 injured people. The majority of deaths took place in the Ped ...

October 2017 Iberian wildfires The October 2017 Iberian wildfires were a series of more than 7,900 forest fires affecting Northern Portugal and Northwestern Spain between 13 and 18 October. The wildfires claimed the lives of at least 49 individuals, including 45 in Portugal an ...

*France's Mediterranean coast including Côte d'Azur, and Corsica

North America

2017 was the most expensive firefighting year on record for the US Forest Service with over $2 billion spent. Record setting fires included the

Lodgepole Complex Fire The Lodgepole Complex Fire in Montana was the state's and the nation's largest fire of the 2017 wildfire season as of early September, 2017. It burned on public and private land 52 miles WNW of Jordan and was caused by lightning on July 19. A ...

, the nation's largest that year; the

La Tuna Fire The La Tuna Fire was a wildfire that started on September 1, 2017, and burned through the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles, California. It led to the destruction of 5 homes and the evacuations of over 300 homes. It was the largest wildfire in the ...

, which was the largest in Los Angeles history; and the

2017 British Columbia wildfires On July 6, 2017, a two-hectare wildfire began west of 100 Mile House, British Columbia, Canada marking the beginning of the record-breaking 2017 wildfire season in British Columbia. On July 7, 56 new fires started throughout British Columbia (BC) ...

, worst in the history of the province. The western U.S., as of October, witnessed about 50,000 wildfires, with more than 3.4 million hectares burned. In Canada, as of August, 7.4 million acres had burned, and British Columbia recorded its worst year for land burned since 1958. The

2017 California wildfires In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire season on record in California at the time, surpassed by only the 2018 season and the 2020 season, with a total of 9,560 fires burning of land, according to the California Dep ...

were the most destructive on record with over $9 billion in insurance claims from the October fires and expected over $20 billion more for December's fires. *

, Canada *

2017 Chile wildfires A series of wildfires burned across Chile during January 2017. Impact On January 27–28, a wildfire described as the worst in Chile's modern history killed at least 11 people, including five firefighters and destroyed the town of Santa Olga in t ...

2017 Montana wildfires The 2017 Montana wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017. Overview The 2017 fire season in Montana was exacerbated by drought conditions and , there were 21 large, active fires that had consumed over . By Septemb ...

2017 Oregon wildfires The 2017 Oregon wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017. The 2017 fire season in the state of Oregon was a particularly notable one. There has been a trend for the last three decades that shows an increase in th ...

2017 Washington wildfires The 2017 Washington wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017, a year that set weather records for heat and aridity in both Western Washington and Eastern Washington. Timeline of events Fire season officially beg ...

Bearskin Fire The Bearskin Fire was a wildfire in Valley County, Idaho in the United States, 21 miles northeast of Lowman. The fire, which was reported on August 23, 2017, burned a total of . Events The Bearskin Fire was reported on August 23, 2017, at 7: ...

, Idaho, United States *

Highline Fire The Highline Fire was a wildfire in Payette National Forest, 23 miles east of Warren, Idaho in the United States. The fire was reported on July 29, 2017. The cause of the fire was lightning. The fire burned and was contained in August 2017. The ...

, Idaho, United States *

Goodwin Fire The Goodwin Fire was a wildfire that burned in the U.S. state of Arizona over 16 days, from June 24 and July 10, 2017. The fire's cause was not determined by investigators. 17 homes were destroyed and another 19 structures were da ...

, Arizona, United States * Tank Hollow Fire, Utah, United States

Oceania

2016–17 Australian bushfire season The summer of 2016–17 saw a very wet start with the fifth-wettest December on record being 76 percent above the average rainfall for the month across much of the country. This caused a significant surge in vegetation growth leading into the fi ...

2017 Port Hills fires The 2017 Port Hills fires were wildfires in the Port Hills of Christchurch, New Zealand. Two separate fires, several kilometres apart, started on Monday afternoon on 13 February 2017. By Wednesday night, the fires had combined to one large area. ...

, New Zealand

References

External links

Historical U.S. fire data
for 2016 {{2017 wildfires

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2017-related lists