The Western United States MTBS-Interagency Database of Large Wildfires, 1984–2024 (WUMI2024a)

This Western US MTBS-Interagency database (WUMI) of wildfires covers the
period 1984–2024 and the geographic domain of the 11 westernmost states in
the contiguous US. This is an update of a previous WUMI verson of the
WUMI, so here has the version number 2024a. The previous version can be
found at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cg72. The WUMI2024a represents
21,940 wildfires ≥1 km2 in size, or 22,234 if fire complexes are
disaggregated into their constituents. We compile the WUMI2024a by merging
seven government databases and quality controlling by identifying and
removing duplicate occurrences of fires. An important feature of this
database is that it includes fire perimeters and 1-km resolution maps of
the areas burned within. For more than 10,300 wildfires, the map of area
burned is based on 30-m satellite data and accounts for unburned areas
within fire boundaries. The fire perimeters and burn maps aid assessment
of the landcover types that burn and can be used to improve simulations of
how historical fires have affected ecosystems and smoke emissions. The
WUMI2024a can be quickly updated as new and improved data become available
and can thus be used to monitor trends, assess the historical context of
extreme events, and update statistical analyses of the drivers and effects
of western US wildfire in near real-time.