Click Here for California Fires
October 5, 2023 - Currently, 33 large wildfires have burned 386,575 acres in 10 states. One new large wildfire was reported in New Mexico 
yesterday. About 3,700 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents nationwide. So far in 2023, 46,126 wildfires have burned 2,491,506 acres. This continues to be below the 10-year average of 46,258 wildfires and 6,583,944 acres burned.
The predictive services staff at the National Interagency Coordination Center released the National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for October through January. The current wildland fire potential outlook and the monthly seasonal outlook podcast is also available.
As firefighters get wildfires under control, another group of quiet specialists move into the area to start the healing of the land. After a wildfire, the land may need to be stabilized to prevent loss of topsoil through erosion and prevent the movement of dirt into rivers and streams. Land management specialists and volunteers jump start the renewal of plant life through seeding and planting annuals, trees and native species that help retain soil and fight invasive weeds. It is a long-term process that comes alive as the fires die down.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to work with state and local agencies in Hawai‘i. Some national parks in Hawai‘i have been affected by wildfires. For the latest on closure status, recovery, and travel please visit: Wildfires affecting Hawaii - Hawai'i (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).
Northeast Santa Ana winds with gusts to 40 mph will continue across southern California this morning before decreasing this afternoon as relative humidity falls to 10-20%. Light northeast offshore winds will continue across the rest of California as well, with well above normal temperatures. Mild and dry conditions will spread across the remainder of the West with temperatures near to slightly above normal. A cold front from south Texas to the Great Lakes will move slowly eastward with showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of the front, most widespread in south Texas and the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes. Above normal temperatures will continue in the Southeast ahead of the front, but minimum relative humidity is forecast to remain above 35%. Behind the front, dry and breezy northwesterly winds will spread across the northern and central Plains, while scattered to widespread showers develop across northern Minnesota into northern Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula of Michigan. National Predictive Services Outlook 6 Minutes for Safety: Access the 6 Minutes for Safety topic of the day at Fight Fire Aggressively, Having Provided for Safety First.
| Number of new large fires or emergency response * New fires are identified with an asterisk |
2 | States currently reporting large fires: |
| Number of active large fires Total does not include individual fires within complexes. |
33 | |
| Acres from active fires | 386,575 | |
| Fires contained | 1 |
Year-to-date statistics
| 2023 (1/1/23-10/05/23) | Fires: 46,126 | Acres: 2,491,506 |
| 2022 (1/1/22-10/05/22) | Fires: 54,863 | Acres: 6,933,854 |
| 2021 (1/1/21-10/05/21) | Fires: 46,586 | Acres: 6,407,090 |
| 2020 (1/1/20-10/05/20) | Fires: 44,914 | Acres: 7,875,504 |
| 2019 (1/1/19-10/05/19) | Fires: 41,529 | Acres: 4,390,337 |
| 2018 (1/1/18-10/05/18) | Fires: 47,914 | Acres: 7,741,364 |
| 2017 (1/1/17-10/05/17) | Fires: 50,283 | Acres: 8,469,590 |
| 2016 (1/1/16-10/05/16) | Fires: 46,212 | Acres: 4,810,159 |
| 2015 (1/1/15-10/05/15) | Fires: 50,765 | Acres: 9,121,338 |
| 2014 (1/1/14-10/05/14) | Fires: 41,495 | Acres: 3,063,850 |
| 2013 (1/1/13-10/05/13) | Fires: 39,477 | Acres: 4,159,350 |
10-year average Year-to-Date
| 2013-2022 | Fires: 46,258 | Acres: 6,583,944 |
Source: NIFC
