The federal government has a vested role in the prevention and suppression of wildfires, as well as helping communities rebuild after a wildfire event. Federal wildfire spending comes in many forms and is spread throughout numerous different federal agencies and departments.

The U.S. government is directly responsible for wildfire response and management across roughly 650 million acres of federal lands in the U.S., most of which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service (FS) and the Department of the Interior (DOI). In 2021, 5.2 million acres of federal land were burned by wildfires, compared to 1.9 million acres of nonfederal land. In addition to fighting active wildfires, the federal government implements wildfire preventative measures as well as post-disaster recovery efforts on federal lands.

A fact sheet on wildfire spending is available below and can be downloaded here.