Latest / EM Morning Brief / Spokane fires damage more than 900 structures; NC Ports run manual operations after cyberattack
Transcript
- 0:00Good morning.
- 0:00I'm Cedric and This is your EM Morning Brief for Friday, August 7, 2026.
- 0:06The nation remains at Preparedness Level 5, the highest level of wildfire response readiness.
- 0:12The Thursday Incident Management situation report counts 86 uncontained large fires, more than 3.3 million acres burned on large incidents and 29,699 personnel assigned nationwide.
- 0:26An incident management team and 59 fireline personnel from Australia and New Zealand are supporting The Northwest and four MAFS C130 air tankers are staged at Klamath Falls, Oregon and Redding, California Fire weather stays critical Forecasters expect temperatures near
- 0:43or above 100 degrees across the inland Northwest and northern Great basin, up to 110 in inland California and minimum relative humidity of 3 to 15% east of the Cascades and Sierra with poor overnight recovery.
- 0:58North Carolina's three ports returned to normal gate schedules Thursday while processing trucks manually as recovery continues from a cyber attack that hit the port Authority's statewide IT systems late Tuesday.
- 1:11The U.S.
- 1:12coast Guard and state agencies are assisting the investigation.
- 1:16In today's Federal Register Presidential Major disaster declarations are published for Mississippi and Louisiana tied to Tropical Storm Arthur, along with a public assistance declaration from Missouri covering severe storms, straight line winds, tornadoes and flooding.
- 1:33Official updates published in today's Federal Register the National Hurricane center expects no tropical cyclone development in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf over the next seven days.
- 1:45In Hawaii, Kilauea's summit eruption is paused and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory forecasts eruptive episode 53 between August 8th and dangerous heat continues to build across the desert southwest and Intermountain west, and severe storms are possible in parts of
- 2:03the Great Plains and Ozarks.
- 2:05Let's run through the states.
- 2:07California the Gan Fire in Calaveras county stands at 10,384 acres and 33% containment as of Thursday evening, per Cal Fire.
- 2:17Sheriff's personnel found a deceased person inside a residence in Angel's Camp and at least seven structures have been destroyed.
- 2:24County officials reopened six evacuation zones Thursday as crews continued containment work.
- 2:30Governor Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for Calaveras county on Thursday.
- 2:35Separately, the new Buzzard Fire in Kern county northwest of Liebeck, has burned about 500 acres with active fire behavior and evacuations are in effect.
- 2:45Colorado the rio Blanco Fire, 10 miles south of Pagosa Springs, is at 1,388 acres and 55% containment, with evac evacuations, area closures and road closures in effect.
- 2:57The Elk Fire, northwest of Lake city is at 2,911 acres and 40% containment with residents is threatened.
- 3:05Hawaii Kilauea is not erupting, the summit eruption in Halemaumau is paused, tilt shows steady inflation and the observatory's forecast window for episode 53 is August 8 through 13.
- 3:17No significant activity is noted on the east or southwest rift zones.
- 3:22Idaho the Tartar Fire northwest of weiser is at 147,418 acres and 53% containment.
- 3:30Evacuations area road and trail closures remain in effect with structures threatened.
- 3:35Louisiana A Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for public assistance tied to Tropical Storm Arthur is published in today's Federal Register.
- 3:44Official update published in today's Federal Register we have more to cover this morning, but first a quick word from the sponsor supporting today's episode.
- 4:25Thanks for supporting the sponsors who help make em morning brief possible.
- 4:29Now back to this morning's updates.
- 4:32Minnesota Five fires continue on the Superior National Forest near Ely.
- 4:37The Bear Trap fire is at 29,764 acres and 40% containment with numerous structures threatened.
- 4:44The Sioux, Wolf Pack, Thumb and Camp fires show minimal behavior with area road and trail closures in effect across the fire area.
- 4:53Mississippi the Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Tropical Storm Arthur is published in today's Federal Register.
- 5:01Official update published in today's Federal Register.
- 5:05Missouri A Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for public assistance covering severe storms, straight line winds, tornadoes and flooding is published in today's Federal Register.
- 5:16Official update published in today's Federal Register.
- 5:20Montana the Skillet Fire west of Olney on the Flathead national forest is at 2,870 acres with active fire behavior, torching and spotting.
- 5:30Railroad infrastructure is threatened and area road and trail closures are in effect.
- 5:35Nevada The Ward Fire six miles south of Ely is at 8,775 acres and 5% containment with critical infrastructure threatened and closures in effect.
- 5:46The Mouse Meadow Fire southwest of Rachel grew to 49,766 acres with evacuations in effect and communication infrastructure threatened.
- 5:57North Carolina Ports resumed normal gate schedules Thursday at Wilmington and Morehead City while continuing to process operations manually after the Aug.
- 6:064 cyber attack.
- 6:08An outside forensics team is working with the Port Authority's IT department and the U.S.
- 6:13coast Guard.
- 6:14The state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Information Technology are engaged.
- 6:21Oregon the Grasshopper Fire north of Sportsman park grew nearly 4,800 acres to 39,439 acres at 20% containment with active behavior and short range spotting.
- 6:33The Row Creek Complex south of fossil is at 340,276 acres and 62% containment with evacuations in effect.
- 6:41The Big Grass Fire southwest of Jordan Valley is at 358,911 acres and 39% containment with evacuations in effect.
- 6:51The Coleman Creek Fire east of Juntura added more than 31,000 acres to reach 309,803 acres at 70% containment.
- 7:01The Hagan Fire east of Pendleton is at 40,803 acres and 11% containment with numerous residences and energy infrastructure threatened.
- 7:11Texas the Bear Hollow Fire east of Jacksboro is at 906 acres and 75% containment with energy infrastructure threatened.
- 7:20Along the upper Texas coast, peak heat indices between 101 and 108 degrees are forecast for the Houston and Galveston area.
- 7:30Utah the Widemouth 2 fire southwest of Kanosh has grown past 97,000 acres at 10% containment showing extreme fire behavior with crowning and long range spotting.
- 7:41Evacuations Area road and trail closures are in effect.
- 7:45Numerous structures and critical infrastructure are threatened and six structures have been lost.
- 7:51The Black Canyon Fire southwest of Price also has evacuations in effect.
- 7:57Washington Officials have identified 913 structures damaged by the Spokane area fires and the count is continuing as of late Thursday night.
- 8:05The Old Trails Fire is at 3,574 acres and the Autumn Lane Fire at 5,870 acres each, 13% contained with Level 3 evacuation zones still in place.
- 8:18Elsewhere in the state, the Sinlahaken Fire near Tonisket is at 120,692 acres and 20% containment with evacuations in effect.
- 8:27The Little Giant Fire northwest of Leavenworth is at 74,284 acres with extreme fire behavior and the Kaiser Canyon Fire near nespelum is at 136,887 acres and 43% containment with evacuations in effect.
- 8:43The Border 2 and Luna fires in North Cascades national park continue to grow with closures in effect.
- 8:50Wyoming the New Bear Fire on the Bridger Teton National Forest northwest of Big piney is at 800 acres with moderate fire behavior.
- 8:58Residences are threatened and road closures are in effect.
- 9:03All other states or territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours that wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
- 9:11New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5am hour PT, so the day starts with clarity instead of catch up.
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- 9:24EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
- 9:28Stay safe.