US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week Ending March 22nd

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that as of Friday, March 22nd, 26 new large wildfires were reported during the week. The National Preparedness Level remains at a 1 out of 5.

Virginia had numerous significant starts this week, with active fire and structures threatened. North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and West Virginia also have uncontained wildfires. The NIFC says complex incident management teams are assigned to the Rocky Branch and Waterfall Mountain Fires in Virginia.

The number of active large fires (not including individual fires within complexes) stands at 18. Currently, there are 18,743 acres actively involved in fires. The total number of wildfires contained stands at 18. The states with active fires are Oklahoma and Virginia with 6 each, West Virginia with 3, North Carolina with 2, and Tennessee with 1.

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

• Year-to-date through March 22nd, 3,892 wildfires were reported, and they had burned 1,623,021 acres.
• During the same period last year, 6,789 wildfires were reported, and they burned 84,526 acres.
• The 10-year average (2014–23) for the same period is 8,268 fires and 371,953 acres burned.