Latest / EM Morning Brief / Episode Headline: Oregon's Fox Fire forces Huntington evacuation; EF-2 tornado strikes Appleton as Chicago storms cut power to 315,000

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Episode Headline: Oregon's Fox Fire forces Huntington evacuation; EF-2 tornado strikes Appleton as Chicago storms cut power to 315,000 · EM Morning Brief

• 0:00
  Good morning.
• 0:00
  I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for Tuesday, July 28, 2026 and today's episode is sponsored by the NIMS store.
• 0:09
  The nation remains at preparedness level.
• 0:11
  Five firefighters are working to suppress 95 large fires across the country, including 13 new large incidents.
• 0:19
  With 25,796 personnel committed nationwide, the Northwest remains the center of gravity.
• 0:27
  Oregon and Washington carry 51 uncontained large fires and 18 complex incident management teams, and the National Multi Agency Coordinating group has mobilized 74 fire management specialists from Australia and New Zealand for 30 days of operational support in the
• 0:43
  Pacific Northwest, FEMA authorizes fire Management Assistance grants for the Kauaihei Road fire in Hawaii county and the Grasshopper Fire in Wasco County, Oregon, covering up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs.
• 0:59
  Severe weather hammers the Upper Midwest A preliminary EF2 tornado tears through the Appleton and Menasha area in northeast Wisconsin and two rounds of storms across the Chicago area down trees, flood streets, knock out power to more than 315,000
• 1:15
  ComEd customers and force ground stops at O' Hare and Midway with roughly 960 cancellations at O'.
• 1:22
  Hare.
• 1:23
  Extreme heat holds across the desert Southwest where the Phoenix forecast office keeps an extreme heat warning in effect into August 2nd with afternoon highs of 110 to 121 degrees in the lower deserts.
• 1:37
  On the cyber front, CISA adds two vulnerabilities to the known exploited vulnerabilities a40 net-40s sensitive information exposure flaw CVE25 6886 and an Arista Velocloud Orchestrator command injection flaw.
• 1:56
  Network defenders should prioritize remediation in the tropics.
• 2:01
  The National Hurricane center reports a quiet Atlantic with no active systems or disturbances.
• 2:07
  Let's run through the states Arizona an extreme heat warning remains in effect for the lower deserts including Yuma, Parker Valley and Palo Verde Valley through 8pm MST on August 2 with afternoon temperatures of 110 to 121 degrees.
• 2:24
  Heat related illness risk is elevated for anyone without effective cooling or hydration.
• 2:30
  The lightning caused cinder complex in Inyo county stands at 2,722 acres and 25% containment.
• 2:39
  Officials downgrade evacuation orders to warnings for several zones north of Aberdeen and lift warnings for a dozen more.
• 2:46
  The nearby Rock fire holds at 12,008 acres and 45% containment under the same incident command.
• 2:53
  Shelters remain available at the Bishop Senior center with large animal sheltering at the Tri County Fairgrounds.
• 3:01
  The Clayton County Water Authority issues a boil water advisory for the north end of the county after an overnight pump station failure.
• 3:08
  Affected areas include Forest Park, Lake City, College park and Moro.
• 3:14
  Customers should boil water for drinking and cooking until the advisory is lifted.
• 3:19
  FEMA approves a Fire Management Assistance grant for the Kauaihai Road fire on Hawaii island, which burned close to 700 acres in South Kohala over the weekend, and forced evacuations of Kauaihe Village and Spencer Beach Park.
• 3:33
  Evacuation orders are lifted and roads are reopened as crews continue mop up at Kilauea.
• 3:39
  The summit eruption remains paused at volcano alert level advisory, with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory forecasting the next fountaining episode between July 29 and August 2.
• 3:51
  Illinois Two rounds of severe storms sweep the Chicago area, producing tornado warnings in the south and southwest suburbs, 74 mph winds at Midway, up to 3 inches of rain, widespread street and basement flooding and outages peaking above 315,000
• 4:07
  ComEd customers.
• 4:10
  Ground stops at O' Hare and Midway are lifted, but about 960 flights are canceled at O' Hare and roughly 100 at Midway.
• 4:18
  Indiana the same storm system moves into northwest Indiana, where NIPSCO reports more than 27,500 customers without power, and tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings are issued along the Illinois line.
• 4:34
  Recovery from June's Tropical Storm Arthur continues.
• 4:37
  A disaster recovery assistance site opens at the AG center in Raceland to help laforche Parish homeowners and renters file federal assistance claims.
• 4:45
  The FEMA Application deadline is August 31st.
• 4:49
  Minnesota in the Superior National Forest, the Sioux Fire stands at 12,615 acres and 27% containment, the Little Knife Fire at 4,958 acres and 49% and the Camp Fire at 4,407 acres.
• 5:06
  Select boundary Waters entry points on the Gunflint and TOFTI districts reopen for day use while overnight permits remain canceled through July 29.
• 5:15
  Nevada Four new large fires are reported statewide, led by the chimney fire at 5,000 acres and zero containment southeast of Midas in Elko County.
• 5:25
  The Quail Springs fire west of Alamo and the New Pass fire northwest of Austin are also uncontained.
• 5:32
  The state carries the nation's heaviest fire load in Baker County.
• 5:36
  The Fox Fire pushes the entire city of Huntington to Level 3.
• 5:39
  Go now.
• 5:40
  Status comes within an estimated 250ft of homes and closes Interstate 84 for roughly 70 miles between Baker City and Ontario.
• 5:49
  A shelter is open in Ontario.
• 5:51
  In Jefferson county, the merged bench fire reaches 40,296 acres at zero containment, prompting level three orders for the entirety of Warm Springs, a tribal state of emergency, six confirmed home losses and a boil water notice with water conservation
• 6:08
  orders on the reservation.
• 6:11
  In Wasco county, the Grasshopper fire grows to 10,742 acres with Level 3 orders for Sportsman's Park, Pine Hollow and portions of the Mount Hood National Forest.
• 6:23
  A shelter is open at Maupin High School and FEMA authorizes federal firefighting funds.
• 6:29
  In Deschutes county, cooler conditions let crews strengthen lines on the 27,000acre Akawa Butte fire and the Sheriff lowers many Level 3 zones to Level 2 or Level 1 though go now orders remain for Squaw Creek Canyon Estates.
• 6:43
  Pennsylvania Pennsylvania American Water issues a boil water advisory for about 770 customers in part of Scranton after a 24 inch main break along North Washington Avenue.
• 6:56
  South Carolina AndMed Health confirms a malware driven cybersecurity disruption affecting phone and network systems across its upstate hospital locations.
• 7:05
  Emergency rooms remain open, but ANMED Medical Group offices and imaging services are closed Monday with elective procedure patients contacted directly.
• 7:15
  State and federal authorities are assisting separately.
• 7:19
  West Columbia issues a boil water advisory tied to a water main break.
• 7:24
  South Dakota governor Larry Roden formally requests a presidential major disaster declaration for eight counties and two reservations following the late June and early July storms, which included a mini derecho with a 131 mph gust near Highmore, a tornado
• 7:40
  and a historic windstorm.
• 7:42
  Washington the Kaiser Canyon Fire on the colville reservation reaches 121,417 acres at 9% containment.
• 7:52
  The entire town of Nesbellum remains under level 3 go now orders with more than thousand residents.
• 7:58
  Displaced shelters are open at Lake Roosevelt High School in Coulee Dam, the OMAC Community center and the OMAC Longhouse State Route 155, Cache Creek Road and Buffalo Lake Road remain closed in the fire area.
• 8:12
  Wisconsin A preliminary EF2 tornado with winds of at least 111 mph tracks from near Appleton to the north shore of Lake Winnebago, stripping roofs, flipping vehicles and damaging homes in Appleton, Menasha, Neenah and surrounding communities.
• 8:28
  No injuries are reported.
• 8:30
  Outages top 80,000 customers statewide with more than 21,000 in Utagami County.
• 8:36
  Fox Crossing issues a boil water notice for utility customers on its east side following the storms.
• 8:43
  All other states and territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
• 8:49
  That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
• 8:51
  New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5am hour PT so the day starts with clarity instead of catch up.
• 8:58
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• 9:04
  EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
• 9:07
  Stay safe.