Yesterday, 74 new fires were reported nationwide, including two new large fires. Firefighters are currently working to contain 58 large fires, with 12,965 firefighters and support personnel assigned to incidents nationwide.
In 2026 so far, there have been 54,136 fires reported nationwide, for a total of more than 8.4 million acres. Firefighters are currently engaged on fires in eight geographic areas.
As an extremely busy and challenging fire year trends down, many fire personnel on public lands are shifting their focus to the critically important work of fuels management, which is a planned aspect of wildland fire and landscape management. By reducing vegetation or altering the composition of vegetation across the landscape, land managers can reduce the negative impacts of future wildfires, improve the resiliency of the land, and help protect communities. Keep an eye out for signage and messaging about prescribed burns in your community.
Weather
Dry and breezy westerly winds continue across parts of Wyoming, with wind gusts to 40-50mph amid minimum relative humidity of 10-20%, creating elevated to locally critical conditions. Breezy winds are also expected for much of the Great Basin and Four Corners, extending into the Central Rockies amid RH lowering to 5-20%, bringing moderate significant fire potential to some parts of the area. Well above normal temperatures will continue in the Plains, extending into the Midwest, with temperatures near 100 °F and moderate significant fire potential expected across parts of the southern Plains. A cold front will slowly move southward into the Texas Panhandle and much of Oklahoma today, with scattered showers and thunderstorms bringing areas of relief, but new ignitions are possible, as well. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will extend from the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic, as well as the Southeast, while mostly dry conditions are expected in the Great Lakes and Northeast.
