Latest / EM Morning Brief / Preparedness Level 5 with 99 uncontained large fires; Federal emergency declared for Washington as Spokane fires

Transcript

Preparedness Level 5 with 99 uncontained large fires; Federal emergency declared for Washington as Spokane fires · EM Morning Brief

• 0:00
  Good morning.
• 0:00
  I'm Cedric and This is your EM Morning Brief for Wednesday, August 5, 2026.
• 0:06
  The nation remains at preparedness level 5, the highest tier in the federal wildfire system.
• 0:13
  The National Interagency Fire center reports 112 new fires yesterday, including four new large fires, with 99 uncontained large fires burning and more than 27,400 personnel assigned nationwide.
• 0:27
  The Northwest carries the heaviest load with 50 uncontained large fires across Washington and Oregon.
• 0:33
  The President approves an emergency Declaration for Washington authorizing FEMA to coordinate federal response for Chilin Ferry, Okanogan, Spokane, Stevens and Yakima counties and the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Spokane Tribe of Indians.
• 0:50
  Year to date, 45,050 fires have burned more than 5.25 million acres, well ahead of the pace in each of the last three years.
• 1:01
  On the cyber front, CISA adds three vulnerabilities to the known exploited vulnerabilities, a langflow code injection flaw, an enablencentral authentication bypass and an Apache Tomcat missing encryption issue one day after adding a second EnablenCentral authentication bypass.
• 1:20
  All are confirmed under active exploitation and organizations running these products should prioritize remediation.
• 1:26
  On the weather side, extreme heat persists across inland California, the Great Basin, the Southwest and the Southern Plains with highs at or above 100 degrees and minimum relative humidity as low as 3 to 15%, driving critical fire weather
• 1:41
  across much of the West.
• 1:44
  A strengthening thermal trough creates high risk fire potential for southwest Oregon, north along the Cascades to the Columbia River Gorge.
• 1:53
  In the tropics, the Atlantic stays quiet.
• 1:55
  The National Hurricane center is tracking no active tropical cyclones.
• 2:00
  Let's run through the states.
• 2:02
  California the Gan Fire in Calaveras county burns roughly 6,495 acres with no containment as of Tuesday evening.
• 2:11
  The fire starts Monday evening near New Hogan Lake by Hogan Dam and Gan roads and grows rapidly through the day.
• 2:18
  Calaveras county officials issue evacuation orders for multiple zones on the east side of the fire, and Cal Fire assigns more than 250 personnel, four helicopters, 50 engines and 16 dozers to the incident.
• 2:32
  Colorado Mandatory evacuations remain in effect for communities near the Pueblo and Custer county line, including Rye and San Isabel, as the Aspen Acres fire burns in the area.
• 2:44
  Statewide hot and dry conditions, critically low humidity and gusty winds keep fire risk elevated, with major fires this season burning more than 80,000 acres across the state.
• 2:55
  Rockdale County Water Resources issues a boil water advisory effective 7:30pm Tuesday for customers in the northern portion of the county residents in the affected area should boil water for drinking and cooking until the advisory is lifted.
• 3:11
  Hawaii Kilauea is not currently erupting and holds at alert level advisory with aviation color code yellow.
• 3:18
  The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Tuesday update keeps the summit eruption in Halemaumaumau paused with glow continuing from the north vent.
• 3:27
  Current models forecast episode 53 lava fountaining between August 8 and August 14 we have more to cover this morning, but first a quick word from the sponsor supporting today's episode.
• 4:09
  Thanks for supporting the sponsors who help make em morning brief possible.
• 4:13
  Now back to this morning's updates.
• 4:16
  The Tartar fire in Washington county grows past 107,800 acres with 11% containment, the largest active fire in the state.
• 4:27
  The lightning caused Fire burns about 21 miles northwest of Weiser where a complex incident management team directs nearly 600 personnel.
• 4:36
  Highway 95 is back open after weekend closures and the Red Cross shelter at the Vendome Event center in Weiser remains available for evacuees.
• 4:46
  Minnesota the state remains among the most active fire areas outside the west with six uncontained large fires on the National Situation Report as the statewide peacetime emergency for wildfires continues.
• 4:59
  Montana the Griffin Fire in Powder river county is among four new large fires reported nationally.
• 5:06
  Montana now carries nine uncontained large fires with hot, dry and unstable conditions and minimum humidity of 10 to 20% forecast across much of the state.
• 5:17
  New Jersey a 16 inch water main break on Olden Avenue in Ewing Township drops pressure in parts of the Trenton Waterworks distribution system, prompting a precautionary boil water advisory for portions of Ewing and Lawrence townships.
• 5:32
  Customers in the affected areas should boil water for drinking and cooking until further notice.
• 5:39
  Oregon the Grasshopper Fire burns nearly 35,000 acres at 17% containment in Wasco and Hood river counties.
• 5:48
  The Elk Mountain zones, including the Mount Hood Meadows ski area, move to level three.
• 5:52
  Go now.
• 5:53
  Evacuation status Tuesday as the fire shifts west and eastern Clackamas county residents are told to prepare to evacuate.
• 6:01
  In southeastern Oregon, Level 3 orders remain in effect for Pleasant Valley, South Mountain and Jordan Valley due to the Big Grass Fire.
• 6:09
  The state nears an all time record season with 60 large fires burning more than 2 million acres so far in 2026.
• 6:17
  Texas the bear Hollow Fire in Jack county, which starts Monday, burns roughly 900 acres as Texas A&M Forest Service commits additional firefighters, heavy equipment and aviation resources.
• 6:30
  East Texas departments send crews to assist with suppression efforts.
• 6:35
  The state is under both a federal emergency declaration and a statewide emergency proclaimed by Gov Bob Ferguson, whose order includes A ban on most outdoor burning through September 30th authorizes additional national Guard activation and opens the door to
• 6:51
  interstate resource requests.
• 6:53
  The Spokane area fires, including the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires, burn A combined 8,026 acres in Spokane and Stevens counties with no containment.
• 7:05
  Fire Officials confirm about 640 structures destroyed in the Old Trail's fire alone, with news reports placing combined losses above 700 as damage assessments continue.
• 7:16
  The Spokane County Sheriff's Office reports all 14 people previously unaccounted for are safe and some evacuation zones are downgraded.
• 7:25
  Tuesday in North Central Washington, the Little Giant fire grows past 59,000 acres with no containment in Chelin and Okanogan counties.
• 7:35
  The fire reaches Lake Chilin and spots across the water, prompting Level 3 evacuations for the Chihuahua and Tyee ridges and the Chilin Mountains.
• 7:43
  With more than 1800 structures threatened, all other states and territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
• 7:54
  That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
• 7:56
  New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5am hour PT, so the day starts with clarity.
• 8:02
  Instead of catch up, subscribe on the Emergency Management Network on Substack or follow on your favorite podcast player.
• 8:09
  EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
• 8:13
  Stay safe.