US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week Ending April 14th

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is reporting that as of Friday (4-14-23), wildfire activity has occurred or is occurring in the Southern, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Eastern areas, with 30 large new fires reported. Wildland firefighters and support personnel are working towards containment goals on 20 large fires in nine states, with the most activity being reported in Oklahoma.

The NIFC National Fire Preparedness Level is currently at a level 1 out of a possible 5, as the wildfire season begins.

While the number of large new fires or emergency responses was 30, the number of active large fires (the total does not include individual fires within complexes) stands at 20. Currently, there are 24,320 acres involved in active fires. The total number of wildfires fires contained stands at 31. The states currently reporting large wildfires are Oklahoma with 8; 2 each in Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, and New Jersey; and 1 each in Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.

The NIFC offers the following year-to-date comparison:

• From 1/1/23 through 4/14/23, 11,246 wildfires have been reported and they have burned 302,755 acres.
• From 1/1/22 through 4/14/22, 15,807 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 805,660 acres.
• The 10-year average (2013–22) for the same period is 12,767 wildfires and 584,349 acres burned.

NIFC meteorologists are predicting elevated to critical fire weather conditions and moderate to high-risk significant fire potential is expected next week, especially in the Southwest and on the Plains. Dry and breezy post-frontal conditions are forecast along and east of the central and southern Appalachians early to mid-next week, likely resulting in elevated fire weather conditions and moderate to possibly high-risk significant fire potential.