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Wildfire Hazard Potential, Version 2020 Continuous (Image Service)

Published by U.S. Forest Service | Department of Agriculture | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2025-10-06
Note: This Wildfire Hazard Potential (WHP) image service has been deprecated. Previous versions—including 2014, 2018, 2020, and 2023 continuous and classified datasets—have been replaced by a unified WHP service containing the most current data.For the updated continuous WHP service, visit: https://usfs.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=c984aeeecfcc4bef887a3f72a5b4e65a For the updated classified WHP service, visit: https://usfs.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=13004659506b4032bf7998038176f1c3Wildfire hazard potential (WHP) is an index that depicts the relative potential for wildfire that would be difficult for suppression resources to contain, based on wildfire simulation modeling. This dataset produced by the USDA Forest Service, Fire Modeling Institute in 2020 shows WHP at a spatial resolution of 270 meters across the entire conterminous United States, classified into five WHP classes of very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Areas mapped with higher WHP values represent fuels with a higher probability of experiencing torching, crowning, and other forms of extreme fire behavior under conducive weather conditions, based primarily on 2014 landscape conditions. This WHP dataset is based on outputs of wildfire simulation modeling published in 2020.  Starting with the 2020 version, the WHP dataset is integrated with the Wildfire Risk to Communities project. The 2020 dataset is the first version to include Alaska and Hawaii. There is a spatially-refined, 30-m resolution version of the WHP as part of the downloadable Wildfire Risk to Communities data, and related datasets that depict other components of wildfire hazard and risk to homes. This 2020 version supersedes all previous versions of Wildfire Hazard Potential (2018, 2014) or Wildland Fire Potential (2012, 2010, 2007). We generally do not advise direct comparisons between versions because changes can reflect improvements in methodology at all stages of the WHP calculation in addition to actual land cover changes. For more information and to download the raster data, please visit the Wildfire Hazard Potential website. Map author: Greg Dillon, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Modeling Institute

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