Western fire siege holds the nation at Preparedness Level 3; Utah's Iron Fire keeps Eureka evacuated; New Mexico's McCauley Springs and Canyon Venado fires drive evacuations and road closures

EM Morning Brief · Jun 25, 2026 · 5m · transcript

Today’s brief leads with the Western wildfire siege, with NIFC holding the country at Preparedness Level 3 amid Red Flag and critical fire weather across the Intermountain West, the Four Corners, and Interior Alaska, plus building heat across the South and West. In Utah, the Iron Fire near Eureka tops 37,000 acres with mandatory evacuations still in place. In New Mexico, the McCauley Springs Fire forces evacuations and a highway closure in the Jemez while the Canyon Venado Fire briefly shut eastbound I-40. We cover California’s Red Flag prepositioning and a Garden Grove hazmat evacuation…