US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update as of March 21

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that as of Friday, March 21, 50 uncontained wildfires are burning in 16 states. On Thursday alone, 15 new large wildfires were reported in the Southern, Rocky Mountain, and Eastern areas.

Nearly 2,100 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the nation. The National Fire Preparedness Level remains at a 2 out of 5.

A fuels and fire behavior advisory has been issued for the Southern Great Plains and adjacent areas, involving portions of four states and three geographic areas. This area has already experienced multiple wildfire outbreak events in recent days, and high-risk conditions are expected to continue into April.

Significant wildfire potential will be seen throughout most of Texas and parts of New Mexico and Arizona, and several southeastern states through March and into April.

Daily Statistics

As of Friday morning, 38 large wildfires were burning nationwide, all under full suppression strategies. Oklahoma had 19 active wildfires, followed by Florida with four; North Carolina and Virginia with three each; Mississippi with two; and Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia with one each.

There are a total of 175,264 acres burning, and only 7 of the 38 large wildfires are partially contained.

The updated year-to-date comparison is as follows:

• Year-to-date through March 21, 11,9128 wildfires have been reported, and they have burned 396,631 acres.
• During the same period last year, 3,914 wildfires were reported, and they had burned 1,625,566 acres.
• The 10-year average (2015–24) for the same time period is 7,517 wildfires and 541,7953 acres burned.