US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week Ending May 19th

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is reporting that as of Friday, May 19th, six large wildfires have burned 57,491 acres in four states. One large new wildfire was reported in Massachusetts during the week. Nationally, 16,053 wildfires have burned 477,661 acres. Currently, the National Preparedness is at a level 2 out of 5.

The number of active large fires (not including individual fires within complexes) stands at 6. Currently, there are 57,491 acres involved in active fires. The total number of wildfires fires contained stands at 1. The states currently reporting large wildfires are Florida and Massachusetts each with 2 and New Mexico and North Carolina each reporting 1.

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

• Between 1/1/23 and 5/19/23, 16,053 wildfires have been reported and have burned 477,661 acres.
• Between 1/1/22 and 5/19/22, 11,724 wildfires had been reported and had burned 1,678,912 acres.
• The 10-year average (2013–22) for the same period is 19,8994 wildfires and 892,542 acres burned.

The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) located at the NIFC has sent additional resources to Canada in response to a request from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC). The NICC is reporting that there are approximately 225 US federal firefighting resources and support personnel assigned to various wildfires in Canada. Currently, the CIFFC has moved to Preparedness Level 5 due to continued hot and dry conditions and extreme fire activity that is being observed in many incidents across all provinces and territories in Canada.

In addition to the federal firefighting resources mobilized, several state wildland fire agencies are also providing personnel and equipment to support the wildfires burning in Canada.