93 Wildfires Currently Burning in 13 States Across the U.S. — Only 1 Partially Contained

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is the nation’s support center for wildland fires and other emergency situations. The partners at NIFC work together to compile information about the current wildfire situation and statistics that encompass lands managed by federal, state, local, tribal, and private agencies.

As of Monday morning on August 23, the NIFC is reporting 93 large fires and complexes nationally have burned 2,503,430 acres. Only one of those fires is being reported as partially contained. The Little Sleep Fire near Wanblee, South Dakota reported extreme fire behavior yesterday. Large fires in northern California continued to burn actively with most of them gaining thousands of acres. More than 26,000 wildfire fire personnel are assigned to incidents across the country.

In a state-by-state breakdown, Montana is reporting 22 wildfires, followed by Idaho with 20, Washington State with 17, California with 11, Oregon with 10, Wyoming with 3, Utah with 2, Alaska with 2, Minnesota with 2, and Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Dakota each reporting 1.

Year to date, 441,197 wildfires nationwide have been reported and they burned ~4,575,0551 acres. In comparison, last year on August 23, 2021, which was considered, at the time to be a bad wildfire season, a total of 38,286 were reported nationwide and they had consumed 3,590,164 acres.

Breezy and dry conditions are being forecasted for the states where wildfires are currently burning, which will make containment difficult.