Hawaii Firestorm
One of the wildfire disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $5.7 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($5.5 billion at the time) and 100 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 5 most significant wildfire episodes filed in these dates, colored by kind.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Losses, 2024 dollars
- $5.7 billion
- Losses at the time
- $5.5 billion
- Deaths
- 100
The losses and deaths are NCEI’s, counting everything the disaster did. The episodes below are only what the Weather Service filed in its Storm Events record, which counts damage differently and often not at all, so the two never add up and are shown apart.
By state, as filed
Episode by episode
- Wildfire in Texas, August 7 to 9, 2023Conditions were very favorable for wildfire spread with high pressure and dry weather in place leading up to and during the day of August 7th. Moderate southeasterly winds combined with cured ground fuels from the developing drought allowed for rapid wildfire growth.
- Wildfire in Arizona, August 7 to 10, 2023The lightning caused Soto Fire began August 7 north of Green Valley. The fire consumed 1,046 acres before containment on August 10. Fire suppression costs tallied $160,000.
- Wildfire in Hawaii, August 8 to 16, 2023On August 8, several wildfires ignited over Maui and the Big Island. Very strong trade winds, low relative humidity, and ongoing drought conditions across leeward sections led to rapid fire growth and spread.
- Wildfire in Texas, August 8 to 13, 2023Red Flag conditions were observed with relative humidity as low as low as 20% and winds 10-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and a number of fires started.
- Wildfire in Texas, August 9 to 13, 2023Hot temperatures, combined with very dry fuels, lead to multiple significant fire starts and spread across portions of western-north Texas.
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2023Tornadoes in 2023
Sources
NOAA NCEI, U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025), https://doi.org/10.25921/stkw-7w73, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.