Latest / EM Morning Brief / Highway 1 closes today as Timber Fire grows in Big Sur; Ross Fire hits 80,000 acres in North Texas

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Highway 1 closes today as Timber Fire grows in Big Sur; Ross Fire hits 80,000 acres in North Texas · EM Morning Brief

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  Cedric: Good morning, I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for Thursday, August 27, 2026.
• 0:15
  Cedric: The national wildfire system remains at Preparedness Level 5, where it has stood since July 18.
• 0:21
  Cedric: The National Interagency Fire Center's latest report counts 93 large fires burning across 16 states, with more than 3.7 million acres active and 22,356 firefighters and support personnel assigned.
• 0:37
  Cedric: Fourteen new large fires were reported in the last operational period.
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  Cedric: Year to date the country has recorded 51,295 fires and 7.9 million acres burned, which NIFC puts at 165 percent of the ten-year average for acreage.
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  Cedric: Two incidents drive today's operational picture: the Timber Fire in Big Sur, which closes Highway 1 this afternoon, and the Ross Fire in North Texas, which has grown to roughly 80,000 acres.
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  Cedric: Extreme Heat Warnings cover the Desert Southwest into Southern California.
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  Cedric: The National Weather Service forecasts afternoon highs of 107 to 114 in the Phoenix metro area, 115 to 118 in Death Valley and the Colorado River Valley, and overnight lows only in the upper 80s to low 90s across the
• 1:26
  Cedric: Las Vegas, Moapa and Pahrump valleys.
• 1:29
  Cedric: Those warnings run through Friday evening in Nevada and Southern California and through Saturday evening in Arizona.
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  Cedric: Separately, the Storm Prediction Center carries a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with damaging wind, isolated hail and brief tornado potential, and a second Slight Risk over western Nebraska into northwest Kansas where
• 1:53
  Cedric: large to very large hail is possible.
• 1:57
  Cedric: On the federal side, CISA added six vulnerabilities to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog yesterday, including a Citrix NetScaler flaw that allows pre-authentication remote code execution and is now under active exploitation.
• 2:11
  Cedric: Federal civilian agencies must prioritize remediation under Binding Operational Directive 26-04.
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  Cedric: The Department of Homeland Security lists no current National Terrorism Advisory System advisory.
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  Cedric: The President approved a major disaster declaration for Indiana covering the August 11 derecho, and an emergency declaration for Hawaii following Hurricane Lala.
• 2:34
  Cedric: The State Department reissued advisories for Honduras and for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza with no level changes in either case.
• 2:42
  Cedric: There are no active tropical cyclones threatening the United States.
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  Cedric: Let's run through the states.
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  Cedric: California.
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  Cedric: The Timber Fire in Monterey County is the highest-priority incident in the state.
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  Cedric: CAL FIRE reports the fire at 19,296 acres and 21 percent containment as of Wednesday evening, with evacuation orders and warnings across multiple Big Sur zones and more than 660 structures threatened.
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  Cedric: The fire has crossed Ventana Creek and is advancing northwest into the Little Sur drainage and the upper Carmel River basin.
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  Cedric: The Monterey County Sheriff's Office says Highway 1 closes in both directions at 1:00 p.m.
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  Cedric: today, between Andrew Molera State Park and Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, to support backburning operations.
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  Cedric: Duration is open-ended.
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  Cedric: A second fire, the Plaskett Fire, started Wednesday morning east of Gorda on the Los Padres National Forest and was listed at 50 acres, with an evacuation order for the immediate fire area and warnings extending north and south along
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  Cedric: the coast.
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  Cedric: Texas.
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  Cedric: The Ross Fire in Palo Pinto and Jack counties is the largest active incident in the state.
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  Cedric: Texas A&M Forest Service put the fire at 80,000 acres and 12 percent containment late Wednesday, after overnight winds pushed it roughly 30,000 acres larger in a single day.
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  Cedric: The National Interagency Coordination Center's Wednesday morning report carried a smaller figure of 50,000 acres at 8 percent, and described extreme fire behavior with long-range spotting, wind-driven runs and crowning.
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  Cedric: The mandatory evacuation for southern Jack County was lifted Wednesday morning.
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  Cedric: Palo Pinto County has issued a strong advisory to leave rather than a mandatory order.
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  Cedric: Sections of Farm to Market Road 4 and State Highways 16, 254 and 337 remain closed.
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  Cedric: At least five structures are destroyed, and Worth Ranch, a Scouting America camp, sustained catastrophic building damage with no campers on site.
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  Cedric: Governor Abbott announced a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant for the fire on Tuesday.
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  Cedric: Indiana.
• 4:58
  Cedric: Recovery from the August 11 derecho and flooding moved into a new phase Wednesday when the President approved a major disaster declaration.
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  Cedric: Individual Assistance is approved for 21 counties, including Marion, Lake, Porter, Delaware and Madison, and Public Assistance for 11 counties.
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  Cedric: Governor Braun had requested 54 counties, so additional designations are possible.
• 5:22
  Cedric: The Indiana Department of Homeland Security's most recent full status report confirms seven storm-related deaths across Delaware, Henry, Lake, LaPorte, Jennings and Porter counties.
• 5:34
  Cedric: Roughly 2,400 customers remained without power midday Wednesday, concentrated in Lake and Porter counties.
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  Cedric: Ten shelters were open with a combined population of 221, and 25 counties carry local emergency declarations.
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  Cedric: Residents seeking replacement SNAP benefits for storm food loss must file an affidavit by Monday, August 31.
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  Cedric: Washington.
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  Cedric: The state has 15 large fires.
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  Cedric: The Little Giant Fire in Chelan County stands at 147,626 acres and 23 percent containment, with Level 3 Go Now evacuations in the Chiwawa River drainage, the Entiat River Valley and portions of the Lake Chelan shorelines, and 26 structures
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  Cedric: destroyed.
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  Cedric: The Sinlahekin Fire in Okanogan County is at 155,491 acres and 56 percent contained.
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  Cedric: The Three Queens Fire near Snoqualmie Pass has closed roughly 50 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail through October 31.
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  Cedric: County evacuation pages carry no change in the last 24 hours.
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  Cedric: We have more to cover this morning, but first, a quick word from our sponsors.
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  Cedric: Thanks for supporting our sponsors who help make EM Morning Brief possible.
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  Cedric: Now, back to this morning’s updates.
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  Cedric: Oregon carries the largest acreage burden in the country, with 17 large fires and more than 1.2 million acres.
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  Cedric: The Hagen Fire east of Pendleton is at 60,146 acres and 33 percent contained, and Umatilla County has reduced several zones from Level 3 to Level 2.
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  Cedric: The Paradise Fire south of Pendleton remains at 8,633 acres with zero containment and Level 3 zones along Mill Creek Road.
• 7:17
  Cedric: In Clackamas County, a venting chemical drum in Estacada forced a half-mile evacuation Wednesday morning that was reduced and then cleared by early afternoon.
• 7:27
  Cedric: Hawaii.
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  Cedric: Federal assistance is now flowing for Hurricane Lala.
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  Cedric: FEMA designated Hawaii County for emergency protective measures under Public Assistance at a 75 percent federal cost share, with additional designations possible on request.
• 7:42
  Cedric: About 3,224 Hawaiian Electric customers on the Big Island remained without power early Wednesday, and full restoration in Kau is targeted for September 8.
• 7:53
  Cedric: A precautionary boil water notice remains in effect for Naalehu, Waiohinu and several South Point area subdivisions, with essential-use restrictions on multiple systems.
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  Cedric: Kīlauea is not erupting and sits at Advisory, Yellow.
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  Cedric: Tennessee.
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  Cedric: Memphis Light, Gas and Water reported 13,905 customers still without power Wednesday morning, four days after the August 22 windstorm that peaked above 140,000 outages.
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  Cedric: The utility's chief executive calls it the seventh most damaging storm in company history, with winds above 70 miles per hour, and has targeted full restoration by this evening.
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  Cedric: The Tennessee Department of Human Services has opened replacement SNAP benefits for households that lost food to outages of 12 hours or more, with signed affidavits due within 10 days of the loss.
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  Cedric: Pennsylvania.
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  Cedric: The state Department of Health confirmed that an infant was one of two unvaccinated patients who died while infected with measles in Lancaster County.
• 8:56
  Cedric: These are Pennsylvania's first measles deaths in 35 years.
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  Cedric: The outbreak now stands at 393 confirmed cases across 28 counties this year, with roughly half in Lancaster County and about 20 percent of state cases requiring hospitalization.
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  Cedric: Separately, a standing Department of Energy emergency order keeps two units at the Eddystone Generating Station available to operate through November 20.
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  Cedric: Wisconsin.
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  Cedric: The deadline to apply for FEMA Individual Assistance and Small Business Administration disaster loans for the April 13 to 23 storms and flooding is Monday, August 31.
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  Cedric: Nineteen counties and the Oneida Nation are eligible, and more than 62 million dollars in individual and household assistance has been approved to date.
• 9:45
  Cedric: The Disaster Recovery Center at the Northwest Health Center in Milwaukee County closes Friday.
• 9:52
  Cedric: Montana.
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  Cedric: Twelve large fires are burning statewide.
• 9:56
  Cedric: The Sand Creek Fire in Beaverhead County is at 33,088 acres and 14 percent contained with Go-level evacuations near Elkhorn Hot Springs and Maverick Mountain, and the Pioneer Scenic Byway remains closed between Sheep Creek and Grasshopper Overlook.
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  Cedric: Alaska.
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  Cedric: Great Sitkin remains at Watch, Orange, with slow lava effusion continuing inside the summit crater.
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  Cedric: Shishaldin and Kupreanof are at Advisory, Yellow.
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  Cedric: No damaging seismic events affected the state in the last 24 hours.
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  Cedric: Colorado.
• 10:28
  Cedric: The Elk Fire northwest of Lake City in Hinsdale County is listed at 7,257 acres and 33 percent containment in the latest national report.
• 10:38
  Cedric: Connecticut.
• 10:40
  Cedric: A water main break on Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury cut service for Aquarion customers early this morning.
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  Cedric: The utility expects restoration between 11 a.m.
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  Cedric: and 1 p.m., with low pressure and discolored water possible for nearby customers.
• 10:55
  Cedric: Idaho.
• 10:56
  Cedric: Ten large fires are burning statewide, including the Wildhorse Fire north of Kimama at 21,862 acres with zero containment.
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  Cedric: Louisiana.
• 11:05
  Cedric: The Disaster Recovery Center at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library in Houma closes permanently at 4 p.m.
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  Cedric: Saturday.
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  Cedric: The FEMA application deadline for Tropical Storm Arthur damage remains October 1.
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  Cedric: Minnesota.
• 11:19
  Cedric: Three large fires on the Superior National Forest continue in de-escalation, with area, road and trail closures still in place and minimal fire behavior reported.
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  Cedric: All other states and territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
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  Cedric: That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
• 11:38
  Cedric: New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5:00 AM hour P.T., so the day starts with clarity instead of catch-up.
• 11:45
  Cedric: Subscribe on the Emergency Management Network on Substack, or follow on your favorite podcast player.
• 11:51
  Cedric: EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices Podcast.
• 11:54
  Cedric: Stay Safe.