US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for August 14, 2022: 1 New Wildfire Reported

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported on Sunday (8-14-22) that the total number of large wildfires and complexes currently burning in the US has been reduced to 52, with more than 1.4 million acres across 16 different states currently burning. One large new wildfire has been reported within the past 24 hours.

Most of the wildfire activity remains located in the state of Alaska, where there are 12 wildfires currently burning. Elsewhere, there are 7 wildfires burning in Montana; 6 wildfires burning in Idaho; 5 wildfires burning in California; 3 wildfires burning in Arizona, Texas, and Washington; and 1 wildfire burning in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.

The NIFC is reporting that as of Sunday only 4 of the 52 wildfires have been partially contained. There are now 9,500 wildland firefighters and support personnel assigned to these incidents.

The current number of wildfires continues to well outpace 2021, which up until now held the record high level, and is more than double the 10-year average. The NIFC offers this simple comparison as an example:

• From 1/1/22 through 8/14/22, 42,104 wildfires have been reported and they have burned 5,905,686 acres.
• From 1/1/21 through 8/14/21, 40,263 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 3,923,553 acres.
• The NIFC notes that the 10-year average (2012–2021) for the same time period is 37,117 wildfires that had consumed 4,357,102 acres.

NIFC meteorologists continue to see an ongoing weather pattern of hot, humid but dry, and windy conditions for the next seven days. There is the possibility of isolated thunderstorms every day during for the week in the 16 different impacted states.