US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week Ending April 5th

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that as of Friday, April 5th, 3 uncontained large fires are burning in Alabama, Missouri, and Florida. During the week, wildland firefighters and support personnel contained 23 large fires. The National Preparedness Level remains at a 1 out of 5.

On April 1st, the National Interagency Coordination Center predictive services staff released the National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook. Parts of the Eastern, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest areas could see above normal wildfire potential this month.

A fuels and fire behavior advisory remains in effect for northwest Texas, western Oklahoma, southwest Kansas, southeastern Colorado, and far eastern New Mexico. Wildland fire personnel should expect extreme to unprecedented fire growth and intensity in these areas.

The number of large new fires or emergency responses as of April 5th was 21. The number of active large fires (not including individual fires within complexes) stands at 3. Currently, there are 1,144 acres actively involved fires.

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

• Year-to-date through April 5th, 8,433 wildfires were reported, and they had burned 1,708,429 acres.
• During the same period last year, 9,160 wildfires were reported, and they burned 203,656 acres.
• The 10-year average (2014–23) for the same period is 11,155 wildfires and 563,810 acres burned. The above-average number of acres is due to the wildfires in Texas in late February.