US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week Ending April 28th

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is reporting that as of last Friday (4-28-23), wildfire activity has occurred or is occurring in several Southern, Eastern, Southwest, and Rocky Mountain and Great Basin areas. Nineteen large new fires were reported. Wildland firefighters and support personnel are working towards containment goals on 13 large fires that have burned 45,376 acres in 8 states.

The NIFC National Fire Preparedness Level is currently remains at a level 1 out of a possible 5.

The number of large new fires or emergency responses was 19. The number of active large fires (not including individual fires within complexes) stands at 13. Currently there are 45,376 acres involved in active fires. The total number of wildfires fires contained stands at 23. The states currently reporting large wildfires are Oklahoma with 5, Florida with 2, and Colorado, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and West Virginia with 1 each.

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

• Between 1/1/23 and 4/28/23, 12,972 wildfires have been reported and have burned 392,287 acres.
• Between 1/1/22 and 4/28/22, 24,461 wildfires had been reported and had burned 1,089,766 acres.
• The 10-year average (2013–22) for the same period is 15,723 wildfires and 708,513 acres burned.

NIFC meteorologists are predicting limited fire activity during the week as recent and ongoing precipitation, along with continuing snow melt, is helping to reduce the threat of wildfires along the West Coast and Rocky Mountain regions, the upper Midwest, and eastward.