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July 15, 2024 - 62 large active wildfires are currently being managed nationwide, and have burned 902,253 acres. Fire managers are using full suppression strategies on 49 of these wildfires. 18,468 wildland firefighters and support personnel, 20 complex incident management teams, and 5 type 1 incident management teams are assigned to incidents across the nation.
The Great Basin Coordination Center's predictive services staff have issued three fuels and fire behavior advisories for Nevada, Southern Idaho and Utah and Arizona Strip. There is also a fuels and fire behavior advisory in effect for California. Residents, travelers, or workers on their way to any of these states should be advised and familiarize themselves with the elevated risks.
The national predictive services staff at the National Interagency Coordination Center released the National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for July through October. For additional information about the current outlook visit the Outlook page on the NICC site.
During the past decade, we have seen hotter and more destructive wildfires. These blazes result from a mix of conditions. Build-up of fuels such as dead trees and brush combines with drought to create a tinderbox ready to burn. We cannot stop the hot weather and lightning storms, but we can do our part to be fire wise when we are recreating, traveling, or staying home. Take the time to find out the weather conditions and fire danger where you live and plan to vacation. Get the information you need about current wildland fire danger and be prepared. Start here: https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/fuels_fire-danger/fuels_fire-danger.htm
Weakened dome of high pressure near the Four Corners will sag a little farther south while a disturbance offshore northern California continues to drift northward. Drier air should significantly limit the coverage of mixed wet/dry thunderstorms for portions of California’s Central Coast and Central Valley. The primary focus for high-risk dry lightning will continue along/east of the Sierra Crest shifting eastward across central/eastern Nevada, northern Utah, and into central/southern Idaho, southwest Montana, western Wyoming and northwest Colorado. Potential for at least isolated dry lightning will also be present over California’s NW Mountains closer to the offshore disturbance. Across the West, high temperatures will continue to trend closer to more typical mid-July readings while record/near-record heat persists across the Great Plains and Southeast. Less intense heat combined with the slight uptick in moisture will broadly result in improved RH recovery tonight across much of the West and much less coverage of single digit RH during the day; however, RH minima below 20% will remain in the Great Basin, portions of the Columbia Basin and Snake River Plain as well as the High Plains in the afternoon. Locally breezy and very dry conditions east of the Cascades into the central Columbia Basin may result in elevated critical conditions at times. For the eastern US, record or near-record heat will continue to build for many areas especially the Southeast and east Gulf Coast region. RH will be low and generally less than 25% for the Southern Plains while RH minima below 35% are expected for much of the Southeast, southern Appalachians, and Mid-Atlantic. Severe thunderstorms are likely from the High Plains to the Upper/Middle Mississippi Valley extending into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. Cool, moist, unsettled pattern will continue for western Alaska with widespread moderate to locally heavy rain possible. Areas of rain and mainly isolated wet thunderstorms return for the eastern and northern Interior through tonight. Hawai’i will continue to have breezy to strong trade winds along with a mostly dry pattern save for frequent but generally light showers for windward/mauka locations.
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. |
62 | |
Acres from active fires | 731,489 | |
Fires contained | 7 |
Year-to-date statistics
2024 (1/1/24-7/15/24) | Fires: 24,541 | Acres: 3,065,455 |
2023 (1/1/23-7/15/23) | Fires: 26,938 | Acres: 763,533 |
2022 (1/1/22-7/15/22) | Fires: 36,755 | Acres: 5,229,141 |
2021 (1/1/21-7/15/21) | Fires: 34,411 | Acres: 2,255,218 |
2020 (1/1/20-7/15/20) | Fires: 28,231 | Acres: 1,731,324 |
2019 (1/1/19-7/15/19) | Fires: 22,845 | Acres: 2,176,774 |
2018 (1/1/18-7/15/18) | Fires: 33,329 | Acres: 3,362,451 |
2017 (1/1/17-7/15/17) | Fires: 34,379 | Acres: 4,292,678 |
2016 (1/1/16-7/15/16) | Fires: 29,393 | Acres: 2,500,789 |
2015 (1/1/15-7/15/15) | Fires: 32,190 | Acres: 5,418,647 |
2014 (1/1/14-7/15/14) | Fires: 29,565 | Acres: 1,057,184 |
10-year average Year-to-Date
2014-2023 | Fires: 30,572 | Acres: 2,804,549 |
Source: NIFC