US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update as of September 16th

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that as of Monday, September 16th, 55 large active wildfires are being managed with full suppression strategies nationwide. Current wildfires have burned 2,433,868 acres. The National Wildfire Preparedness Level remains at of 5 out of 5.

27,162 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents, including 25 complex and 2 type 1 incident management teams, 577 crews, 1,747 engines, and 145 helicopters. 245 soldiers from the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion and the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment based out of Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) completed their deployment to fires across the Great Basin Geographic Area yesterday.

The National Wildfire Preparedness Level remains at a 5 out of 5.

Daily Statistics

As of Monday, there were no large new fires being reported. There are 55 active large wildfires that have burned 2,433,868 acres in 10 states. Idaho has 22 wildfires; Oregon has 18; Montana has 13; California has 8; Washington has 5; Wyoming has 4; Nevada, Arizona, and South Dakota have 2 each; and Colorado has 1. Four of the 55 wildfires currently burning are contained.

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

• Year-to-date through September 16th, 36,920 wildfires were reported, and they have burned 7,301,739 acres.
• During the same period last year, 42,629 wildfires were reported, and they had burned 2,190,125 acres.
• The 10-year average (2014–23) for the same period is 44,387 wildfires and 5,794,899 acres burned.

The NIFC notes that there have been delays in reconciling actual acreage burned with entries into reporting systems—especially from areas with large fires and dynamic fire activity—given the very high tempo and scale of national fire activity over the past few months. Adjustments are occurring as the accuracy of fire locations, mapping, and final fire reporting are reconciled.