The Fall 2016 wildfire season was the most notable regional wildfire outbreaks across the Southern Appalachians since the 1930s. This season was characterized by a hot drought that began first in the southwestern part of the region (i.e., northwest Georgia and the Nantahala National Forest of NC) then extended more broadly through November. Human ignitions were widespread, many from arson, and the largest fire footprints were typically in the largest wildland areas of the region. While considerable smoke was produced over the roughly six weeks of extended burning, these long duration fires became less notable than the season ending fires that struck the western slope of the region in Tennessee. The Chimney Tops 2 fire and nearby burns, in particular, led to significant loss of life, burned structures, and evacuations and led to several of the largest high severity burn patches of this season.      

This sequence of maps show differences in patch size among selected large fires of that season.