10,035 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned incidents nationwide. 36 large fires are burning across seven geographic areas. Year-to-date, 51,012 wildfires have burned 4,461,337 acres.
While significant fire activity continues across multiple geographic areas, there has been a notable decrease in initial attack as well as new large fires nationally for multiple weeks. Active geographic areas are asking for little to no national support to accomplish incident management objectives. There are ample resources available and no competition for nationally shared resources. Due to these factors, the national preparedness level decreased to two (PL 2) today, September 23, at 7:30 a.m. MDT.
As we move into fall, many land managers are able to spend more time on fuels management activities, such as prescribed burning. As stated in the 2025 National Fire Year Themes, wildland fire programs apply fuels management to reduce wildfire risk to communities and natural and cultural resources. By proactively managing fuels (which means anything that can burn, but in fire is usually used to refer to landscape-scale vegetation), we enhance the resilience of the landscape and reduce future wildfire threats.
Locally breezy northeast winds in northern California and southwest Oregon will gradually decrease during the day before returning overnight, but weaker. Minimum relative humidity will be very low at 7-20% and stretch into much of southern Oregon and northwest Nevada with poor overnight recovery below 30% for mid-slopes and ridges. Above normal temperatures will also return to much of the rest of the Northwest and into the northern Rockies, but minimum relative humidity will be higher at 15-30%. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will persist in the central and southern Rockies, generally east of the Divide. An upper-level low off the southern California coast is likely to move closer tonight, with scattered mixed wet and dry thunderstorms for the central coast. In the eastern US, a cold front will slowly move south and east from the central and southern Plains northeast into the Great Lakes and Northeast. Widespread thunderstorms are expected in the Mid-Mississippi and Lower Ohio Valleys, with more scattered showers and thunderstorms elsewhere. In the Northeast, portions of northern New England may receive little precipitation. The Southeast is likely to remain dry, but minimum relative humidity will remain generally above 40%, while isolated thunderstorms return to Florida.
Daily statistics
Number of new large fires or emergency response * New fires are identified with an asterisk
