National Preparedness Level 5 with 102 uncontained large fires; Spokane-area fires destroy 660 structures; Idaho's Tartar fire tops 97,000 acres

EM Morning Brief · Aug 4, 2026 · 8m · transcript

The nation holds at Preparedness Level 5 with 102 uncontained large fires and more than 29,000 personnel committed. Three fires around Spokane destroy 660 structures and force thousands from their homes, Idaho’s Tartar fire grows by more than 81,000 acres in a day, and Utah’s Widemouth 2 fire races toward Kanosh with extreme wind-driven behavior. CISA adds an N-able N-central authentication bypass to its exploited vulnerabilities catalog, Kilauea’s next episode is forecast for August 7 to 14, and FEMA opens an assistance center for the Fort Peck Tribes in Montana. EM Morning Brief is your…