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Variations in fire regimes can be inferred from changes in the abundance of sedimentary charcoal found in lake and bog sediments. When analysed with pollen data, inferences can be made about past vegetation dynamics and climate as well. The analysis of high-resolution charcoal records generally involves the decomposition of charcoal influx into (a) a slowly varying ‘background’ component that provides information about long-term changes in regional fire activity, biomass and/or depositional processes, and (b) a ‘peaks’ component that represents local fire events. In this study, 15 high-resolution charcoal records from the northwestern USA and associated pollen data were examined to describe the variations and controls of charcoal influx and background trends. Late-Holocene charcoal influx levels at each site were …