US National Interagency Fire Center Wildfire Update for the Week of August 25th

The US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) is reporting that as of Friday, August 25th, 78 large wildfires have burned more than 603,921 acres in 14 states. Five large new wildfires were reported just on Thursday. Wildland firefighting resources and personnel currently assigned to incidents include 18,500 wildland firefighters and support personnel, including 20 incident management teams, 377 crews, 1,303 engines, 101 helicopters, and two MAFFS C-130 airtankers. The National Preparedness Level remains at a 4 out of 5.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to work with state and local agencies in Hawaii. Some national parks in Hawaii have been affected by wildfires.

The number of large new fires or emergency responses as of Friday, August 25th was 4. The number of active large fires stands at 69 (not including individual fires within complexes). There are currently 451,027 acres involved in active fires. The total number of fires contained stands at 4.

The states reporting large wildfires this week are Idaho with 13; Montana with 10; Washington with 8; Alaska and New Mexico with 7 each; Colorado and Oregon with 4 each; California, Florida, and Texas with 3 each; Hawaii and Louisiana with 2 each; and Arizona, Mississippi, and Utah with 1 each.

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

• Year-to-date through August 25th, 37,911 wildfires have been reported and they have burned 1,848,103 acres.
• During the same period in 2022, 21,616 wildfires had been reported and they had burned 6,101,221 acres.
• The 10-year average (2013–22) for the same period is 39,724 wildfires and 4,879,851 acres burned.

Isolated to scattered thunderstorms are likely in portions of south and east Texas into Louisiana, southern Mississippi, and southern Alabama, but there is concern for lightning ignitions as very hot and relatively dry conditions continue across much of the southern Plains, Texas, and Southeast.