Using states as a unit of measure for forest fires seems to be a common thing. A couple decades ago I flew into Fairbanks Alaska , and as we were getting close to landing the pilot told everybody not to panic if we smelled smoke because it was just the forest fires that were covering an area the size of Massachusetts.
Up until 2020, the official name of Rhode Island was State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
Providence and surrounding towns on the mainland were the "Providence Plantations", and Newport and Portsmouth, on the island also known as Aquidneck Island, were the Rhode Island part of the equation.
We're literally at a point where a small to medium size town is wiped off the map every year here in Canada. Lytton last year and Jasper this year. Will anything be done about it? No... Maybe some pearl clutching and prayers but nothing concrete.