US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week Ending February 23rd

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that as of Friday, February 23rd, 11 large new wildfires were reported during the week. Five of these fires have been contained. However, uncontained large fires include Bryant Creek, Spring Creek Road, and Corral Fires in Oklahoma and the Chewalla Creek Fire in Mississippi.

The National Preparedness Level remains at a 1 out of 5.

The number of active large fires (not including individual fires within complexes) stands at 6. Currently, there are 3,428 acres involved in active fires. The states with active fires are Oklahoma with 3 and Florida, Mississippi, and Virginia with 1 each.

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

• Year-to-date through February 23rd, 3,041 wildfires have been reported, and they have burned 24,477 acres.
• During the same period last year, 3,485 wildfires were reported, and they had burned 28,701 acres.
• The 10-year average (2014–23) for the same period is 4,039 fires and 80,619 acres burned.