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Brief You on Evacuations in Washington, Oregon, California and Oklahoma · EM Morning Brief

• 0:00
  Cedric: Good morning, I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for Wednesday, September 16, 2026.
• 0:07
  Cedric: The National Interagency Coordination Center holds the country at National Preparedness Level 3, with 58 uncontained large fires and four new large incidents on the board.
• 0:18
  Cedric: Eleven Type 1 incident management teams are committed.
• 0:22
  Cedric: Evacuations are in effect on fires in Washington, Oregon, California and Oklahoma.
• 0:27
  Cedric: Crews in the Southern Plains are working fires under temperatures near 100 degrees with relative humidity in the 20 to 30 percent range.
• 0:35
  Cedric: The season's national total stands at 55,419 fires and just over 8.4 million acres.
• 0:44
  Cedric: The Weather Prediction Center puts this morning's flash flood threat over northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, where training showers and thunderstorms are moving through, and carries a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall over southern Arizona and New Mexico, where two
• 0:59
  Cedric: to three inches is possible.
• 1:03
  Cedric: Heat Advisories run from the Southern Plains into the lower Mississippi Valley, with highs in the upper 90s to low 100s challenging daily records through midweek.
• 1:14
  Cedric: CISA released eight industrial control system advisories covering Siemens Teamcenter, Mendix SAML and Reyrolle 7SR5 products, Schneider Electric SCADAPack x70 units, mySCADA myPRO Manager, Wärtsilä FOS-Onboard marine systems, Digital Watchdog video recorders and the CareCam CM2507.
• 1:34
  Cedric: Utility, port and water operators running any of those platforms should pull the vendor mitigations today.
• 1:40
  Cedric: The agency also published implementation recommendations for federal agencies and cloud service providers on protecting tokens and assertions from forgery, theft and misuse.
• 1:51
  Cedric: Let's run through the states.
• 1:53
  Cedric: Alaska.
• 1:54
  Cedric: The Alaska Volcano Observatory updated both of its elevated volcanoes yesterday.
• 1:59
  Cedric: Great Sitkin stays at alert level Watch with an aviation color code of Orange, where lava continues to erupt slowly inside the summit crater, a pattern that has held since the eruption began in July 2021.
• 2:12
  Cedric: Shishaldin remains at Advisory with an aviation color code of Yellow, and minor seismic activity continues.
• 2:19
  Cedric: Arkansas.
• 2:20
  Cedric: FEMA approved more than 39 million dollars in Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding for projects in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas.
• 2:31
  Cedric: California.
• 2:33
  Cedric: The Lucas Fire in Lake and Mendocino counties stands at 4,128 acres and 33 percent containment, with numerous residences and critical infrastructure threatened.
• 2:44
  Cedric: Evacuation orders remain in place in Lake County, and evacuation warnings extend across additional Lake County zones and into Mendocino County.
• 2:53
  Cedric: Roughly 2,600 personnel are assigned, working under a North Bay incident management team supporting the CAL FIRE Sonoma, Lake and Napa Unit.
• 3:03
  Cedric: In Southern California, the Timber Fire is at 25,426 acres and 39 percent containment with structures threatened, and the Plaskett Fire stands at 29,976 acres and 89 percent containment, still threatening structures and communication infrastructure.
• 3:21
  Cedric: Colorado.
• 3:22
  Cedric: FEMA approved more than 90 million dollars in Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding for the state, the largest single state award the agency announced yesterday.
• 3:34
  Cedric: On the fire side, the Swiss Roll Fire is uncontained at 775 acres, and the Aspen Acres Fire stands at 102,004 acres and 82 percent containment.
• 3:45
  Cedric: Florida.
• 3:46
  Cedric: FEMA approved nearly 10 million dollars for eight recovery and mitigation projects tied to past hurricanes and other disasters in the state.
• 3:55
  Cedric: We have more to cover this morning, but first, a quick word from our sponsors.
• 4:00
  Cedric: Thanks for supporting our sponsors who help make EM Morning Brief possible.
• 4:04
  Cedric: Now, back to this morning’s updates.
• 4:07
  Cedric: Hawaii.
• 4:08
  Cedric: The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports two new vents on the northwest wall of Halemaumau crater at Kilauea, which opened Monday evening.
• 4:17
  Cedric: The observatory says the vents are feeding a small flow in the northwest corner of the crater floor without fountaining.
• 4:23
  Cedric: Kilauea holds at alert level Watch with an aviation color code of Orange.
• 4:29
  Cedric: Episode 54 fountaining occurred on August 25, and precursory activity has run about eight days with 104 overflows recorded, so another fountaining episode is possible.
• 4:40
  Cedric: Activity stays inside a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
• 4:45
  Cedric: Hazards include sulfur dioxide emissions producing vog downwind, along with tephra, ash and Pele's hair.
• 4:52
  Cedric: Idaho.
• 4:52
  Cedric: Crews are working several early containment fires, including the Upper Smith Fire at 4,848 acres and 41 percent containment, the Cascade Fire at 7,475 acres and 50 percent, and the Parker Lake Fire uncontained at 1,531 acres.
• 5:10
  Cedric: Montana.
• 5:11
  Cedric: The Davis Coulee Fire entered the national report as a new large incident, uncontained at 2,000 acres.
• 5:17
  Cedric: The Silvertip Fire is at 7,280 acres and 15 percent containment, the Camp Creek Fire is uncontained at 9,725 acres, and the Moose Fire is at 6,005 acres and 15 percent containment.
• 5:32
  Cedric: Fourteen uncontained large fires are burning across the Northern Rockies area.
• 5:37
  Cedric: New Mexico.
• 5:39
  Cedric: The Weather Prediction Center placed a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall over the southern half of the state, with two to three inches possible, and the Frijoles Fire stands at 15,956 acres and 74 percent containment.
• 5:53
  Cedric: Oklahoma.
• 5:55
  Cedric: Caddo County carried two wildfires yesterday.
• 5:58
  Cedric: A fast-moving fire near Scott prompted an immediate evacuation order for residents along a block of county roads, with officials telling people not to delay to pack belongings and warning that roads in the area could be blocked by fire
• 6:11
  Cedric: and smoke.
• 6:13
  Cedric: At least four structures were damaged, including three occupied homes.
• 6:17
  Cedric: The fire department lifted the evacuations by nine o'clock last night, though the fire stayed uncontained with numerous hot spots and shifting winds.
• 6:27
  Cedric: Investigators say it started when a lawn mower caught fire.
• 6:31
  Cedric: Northeast of there, the Gracemont Fire is uncontained at 2,308 acres, burning range and pasture east of Binger, where the town asked residents to conserve water so suppression crews could draw what they needed.
• 6:45
  Cedric: Statewide fire weather stays severe, with temperatures near or above 100 degrees, low humidity and gusty southerly winds over drought-stressed fuels.
• 6:54
  Cedric: Oregon.
• 6:55
  Cedric: Evacuations are in effect on two fires.
• 6:58
  Cedric: The Austin Fire is at 12,887 acres and 67 percent containment, and the Narrows Fire stands at 304 acres and 89 percent containment.
• 7:08
  Cedric: Elsewhere in the state, the Rowe Creek Complex has reached 373,927 acres at 99 percent containment, the largest incident in the national report, and the Grasshopper Fire is at 93,982 acres and 97 percent containment.
• 7:24
  Cedric: Both still carry structures threatened notations as crews finish line.
• 7:29
  Cedric: Pennsylvania.
• 7:31
  Cedric: Pennsylvania American Water issued a drinking water warning yesterday for the Rock Spring Water Company system in Ferguson Township, Centre County, after the distribution system lost positive water pressure.
• 7:43
  Cedric: About 480 customer connections are affected.
• 7:47
  Cedric: Customers are told to bring water to a rolling boil for one minute and cool it before drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth or preparing food, or to use bottled water until further notice.
• 7:59
  Cedric: The utility staged a non-potable water tanker and bottled drinking water at the Penn State Ag Days site in Pennsylvania Furnace.
• 8:08
  Cedric: FEMA also approved nearly one million dollars in Public Assistance and resilience funding for projects in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
• 8:16
  Cedric: Texas.
• 8:17
  Cedric: The Arrowhead Fire is uncontained at 700 acres, and the Ross Fire stands at 90,400 acres and 88 percent containment in the Southern Plains, where extreme fire weather continues.
• 8:30
  Cedric: Washington.
• 8:31
  Cedric: Twenty uncontained large fires are burning in the Northwest geographic area, and Washington carries most of them.
• 8:38
  Cedric: The Three Queens Fire in Kittitas County stands at 9,527 acres and 20 percent containment with evacuations in effect.
• 8:46
  Cedric: The Little Giant Fire has reached 172,695 acres at 81 percent containment and continues to threaten numerous structures and critical infrastructure.
• 8:57
  Cedric: The Sinlahekin Fire is at 166,000 acres and 77 percent containment, also with structures threatened.
• 9:05
  Cedric: Two fires sit at the early end of containment: the Sisi Fire at 3,193 acres and 5 percent, and the King Fire uncontained at 3,278 acres.
• 9:16
  Cedric: The Wonderland Complex is at 392 acres and 10 percent containment.
• 9:21
  Cedric: That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
• 9:23
  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.
• 9:30
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• 9:33
  Cedric: EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices Podcast.
• 9:36
  Cedric: Stay Safe.