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August 19, 2023 - Currently 95 wildfires have burned 577,316 acres in 15 states. Nearly 11,900 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the United States. Eleven new large fires were reported yesterday, three in Texas, two in California and Washington, and Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Wyoming each had one.
The Southern Geographic Area Coordination Center has issued a fuels and fire behavior advisory for the area spanning from Louisiana to western Panhandle of Florida. It highlights record-breaking heat and the abnormally dry conditions affecting both ground and surface fuels, including ladder fuels like yaupon that can provoke extreme fire behavior. High winds generated by a tropical disturbance may further exacerbate these conditions in the coming days.
A Type 1 incident management team is mobilizing to Hawaii to assist with wildfire suppression efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to work closely with state and local agencies on Maui. For more information, please visit the following websites:
- County of Maui Disaster Update
- Hawaii Emergency Management Agency emergency proclamation relating to wildfires and travel to Maui
- FEMA - Hawaii wildfires
The National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook and other valuable resources are available on the National Interagency Coordination Center website. Listen to the latest wildland fire potential outlook and the monthly seasonal outlook podcast for August through November.
Some moderation is expected in the West with more substantial cooling over the Northern Rockies and more widespread showers and wet thunderstorms over the Great Basin. It will remain warm and dry over North Ops and much of the Northwest, but winds will decrease. Minimum humidity will still fall to 15% to 25% over a wide area, with some poor recoveries continuing in the midslopes and higher. Another round of isolated mixed wet and dry thunderstorms is expected over northern California, interior Oregon, and Idaho. As Hurricane Hilary begins to move closer to the US, scattered to widespread showers and wet thunderstorms are expected across southern California and western portions of the Four Corners states. However, New Mexico and Colorado will trend hotter and drier, and southerly winds will start to pick up as well. Hot and dry weather will continue over Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Further warming is also expected over the Plains states, with hotter and windier weather for much of the Mississippi and lower Missouri Valleys. It will remain cooler and mainly dry over the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast, while the Southeast will turn warmer and mostly dry aside from thunderstorms in Florida. Temperatures will remain near to below normal in most of Alaska, with showery weather over some interior portions of the state and some areas of breezy conditions.
Number of new large fires or emergency response * New fires are identified with an asterisk |
11 | States currently reporting large fires: |
Number of active large fires Total does not include individual fires within complexes. |
95 | |
Acres from active fires | 577,316 | |
Fires contained | 6 |
Year-to-date statistics
2023 (1/1/23-8/19/23) | Fires: 35,985 | Acres: 1,720,245 |
2022 (1/1/22-8/19/22) | Fires: 21,181 | Acres: 5,964,523 |
2021 (1/1/21-8/19/21) | Fires: 40,945 | Acres: 4,399,923 |
2020 (1/1/20-8/19/20) | Fires: 37,569 | Acres: 2,747,015 |
2019 (1/1/19-8/19/19) | Fires: 30,734 | Acres: 3,767,941 |
2018 (1/1/18-8/19/18) | Fires: 41,316 | Acres: 5,898,147 |
2017 (1/1/17-8/19/17) | Fires: 42,665 | Acres: 6,419,642 |
2016 (1/1/16-8/19/16) | Fires: 38,504 | Acres: 4,091,134 |
2015 (1/1/15-8/19/15) | Fires: 41,337 | Acres: 7,210,959 |
2014 (1/1/14-8/19/14) | Fires: 37,010 | Acres: 2,625,499 |
2013 (1/1/13-8/19/13) | Fires: 31,683 | Acres: 3,328,032 |
10-year average Year-to-Date
2013-2022 | Fires: 38,273 | Acres: 4,591,093 |
Source: NIFC