wildfire A firefighter battles flames in Canyon Country, California, U.S. (Photo: Jonathan Alcorn)

The United States has seen record-levels of wildfire activity in recent years, creating widespread devastation in at-risk communities and plaguing the insurance industry with heavy, consecutive catastrophe losses.

The highest annual totals of burned wildfire acreage on record have occurred in nine of the last 14 years. In 2018, 8.7 million acres burned, which is roughly equivalent to the area of 74 of the 75 largest U.S. cities. This is now the sixth-highest annual total of burned wildfire acreage on record, according to CoreLogic's 2019 wildfire risk report.

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Danielle Ling

Danielle Ling is an experienced video journalist and business reporter. As associate editor, Danielle manages all multimedia and reports on industry news and risk-related coverage, managing all weather-related content. A University of Maryland and Philip Merrill College of Journalism alum, Danielle previously served as a video journalist for Verizon FiOS 1 News NJ, Push Pause. Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].