We’re not even out of summer, and the 2026 wildfire season is already on track to break records for the entire year.

It's set to be the most destructive wildfire season in more than a decade when it comes to total area burned. 

What that means

As of this week, there have already been more wildfires across the U.S., burning more square miles, than at this same point during the last 10 years.

About 13,200 square miles have gone up in smoke so far this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That’s an area roughly the size of Maryland and Rhode Island combined.

For context, all of 2024 saw nearly 14,000 square miles burn nationwide. This year is already dangerously close to surpassing that total, and fire season is likely to stretch well into the fall.

(MORE: What actually protects you from wildfire smoke)

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The amount of land burned this year alone is about 50% above the 10-year average and nearly double what had burned by this point last year.

Pushing resources to the brink

The intensity of these fires is stretching national resources to their limits.

The U.S. spent seven weeks at Preparedness Level 5, the highest level on the national scale, from July 18 through Sept. 4.

In plain English: fires were burning aggressively enough, and in enough places at once, that the country was using its firefighting resources at max capacity for 49 straight days.

(MORE: Firefighters on what it feels like inside the inferno)

Certain states stand out

Oregon has had an especially extraordinary season.

Roughly 4,000 square miles have already been scorched, marking the most in the state's recorded history. That's an area more than twice the size of the Grand Canyon. 

(MORE: Weather worsens wildfires in the Pacific Northwest)

Washington, meanwhile, spent more than $200 million fighting wildfires in a single month. The staggering amount of money works out to roughly the equivalent of $26 per resident.

Alaska, on the other hand, is having one of its quietest fire seasons in more than 30 years, thanks to an abnormally cold spring and a lack of sustained hot weather.

For much of the Lower 48, however, this has been an unusually destructive year for wildfires.

With weeks to go until fire season is officially over, the record books aren't finished just yet.