As reported by the US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), as of Monday, July 22nd, 66 large active wildfires are currently being managed across the United States, burning a total of 1,125,770 acres.
Fire managers are employing full suppression strategies on 61 of these fires.
In the Northwest, many wildfires continue to exhibit active to extreme fire behavior, prompting evacuation orders for 11 fires.
Evacuation orders are also in effect for several fires in California and the Great Basin.
Nearly 22,000 wildland firefighters are assigned to wildfires nationwide, supported by 20 complex and six Type 1 incident management teams, 530 crews, 1,310 engines, numerous aviation resources, and four Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems.
The National Wildfire Preparedness Level has been raised to 5 out of 5.
The Great Basin Coordination Center’s predictive services staff have issued three fuels and fire behavior advisories for Nevada, Southern Idaho, Utah, and the Arizona Strip.
Additionally, a fuels and fire behavior advisory is in effect for California.
These advisories aim to provide guidance on expected fire behavior to assist in firefighting efforts.
Fire behavior in these regions remains challenging, with conditions that can lead to rapid fire growth.
The advisories are critical in helping firefighting teams strategize and allocate resources effectively to manage the fires and protect communities.
As of Monday (July 22), there are nine new large fires, bringing the total number of active large wildfires to 61, which have collectively burned 787,729 acres in eight states.
Oregon reports the highest number of wildfires at 20, followed by California with 12, Arizona with eight, New Mexico and Washington State each with five, Montana and Utah each with four, and Idaho with three.
Currently, four wildfires have been contained.
The year-to-date comparison shows that through July 22nd, 26,240 wildfires have been reported, burning 3,447,182 acres.
In the same period last year, 28,331 wildfires were reported, with 839,325 acres burned.
The 10-year average for the same period is 32,087 wildfires and 3,142,458 acres burned.
The above-average number of acres burned this year is partly attributed to the wildfires in Texas in late February.
