Record-breaking wildfires are burning across the American west.
The blazes scorching parts of California, Oregon and Washington state have destroyed millions of acres, leveled entire towns and displaced hundreds of thousands. Dozens of people have been reported dead or missing.
The scale of the area burned by the fires is immense, even though the region’s annual fire season is only getting started. To get a sense of how much of the west coast has been affected since 15 August, we visualized the area burned compared with the size of major global cities.
Data on the number of acres burned is from wildfire tracking agencies CalFire and Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, and is based on estimates as of 13 September.
Data sources: CalFire, Northwest Interagency Coordination Center
