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Brief: Urgent Wildfire and Evacuation Updates · EM Morning Brief

• 0:00
  Cedric: Good morning, I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for September 15, 2026.
• 0:06
  Cedric: The Department of Homeland Security has no current National Terrorism Advisory System advisory in effect.
• 0:12
  Cedric: On the cyber side, CISA added one new vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, CVE-2026-76461, a SQL injection flaw in the Cisco Secure Email Gateway.
• 0:25
  Cedric: The catalog entry carries a remediation due date of September 17, 2026 for federal civilian agencies under Binding Operational Directive 26-04, which prioritizes rapid patching of high-risk vulnerabilities on publicly exposed assets.
• 0:43
  Cedric: Email gateways sit directly in the path of emergency notification and interagency coordination traffic, so operations centers running affected Cisco appliances should confirm patch status against the vendor advisory.
• 0:56
  Cedric: Wildfire remains the dominant national picture.
• 0:59
  Cedric: The National Interagency Coordination Center reports the national Preparedness Level at 3, with 57 uncontained large fires and 105 active incidents accounting for 2,503,512 cumulative acres and 13,102 assigned personnel, a net gain of 84 responders in 24 hours.
• 1:20
  Cedric: Year to date the nation has recorded 54,407 fires and 8,435,367 acres, running at 123 percent of the 10 year average for fire count and 149 percent for acres.
• 1:34
  Cedric: Evacuations are in effect on the Lucas Fire in California, the Moonshine Fire in Wyoming, the Gracemont Fire in Oklahoma, and three fires on the Mt.
• 1:42
  Cedric: Hood National Forest in Oregon.
• 1:44
  Cedric: Predictive Services flags high risk conditions across the western half of Texas and moderate significant fire potential in the northern and central Rockies and the adjacent High Plains.
• 1:57
  Cedric: On the tropical and seismic side, the National Hurricane Center reports no active tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Gulf of America, with one trough well east southeast of Bermuda carrying a 40 percent chance of development over the
• 2:11
  Cedric: next seven days.
• 2:13
  Cedric: In the Eastern Pacific the Center is issuing advisories on Tropical Depression Norbert and Tropical Depression Fifteen-E, both well offshore, with no coastal watches or warnings and no hazards affecting land.
• 2:27
  Cedric: USGS recorded no magnitude 4.5 or greater earthquakes in the United States or its territories in the past day.
• 2:35
  Cedric: Lifeline conditions drove the remaining national items: Puerto Rico ran load shedding twice on Monday after two separate generating unit failures, the Coast Guard and partner agencies responded to shipping containers that fell from a cargo ship at the Port
• 2:50
  Cedric: of Los Angeles, and roughly 50,000 water customers in the Cary and Morrisville area of North Carolina were placed under precautionary boil water guidance after a 30 inch main break.
• 3:02
  Cedric: Federal Register notices published Monday and this morning set Small Business Administration filing deadlines tied to disaster declarations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Indiana, and Utah.
• 3:16
  Cedric: Let’s run through the states and territories.
• 3:19
  Cedric: Arizona: A monsoon storm moved across the Tucson metro and Pima County on Monday afternoon and evening, producing flash flooding and multiple water rescues.
• 3:29
  Cedric: Tucson Fire responded to three swift water rescues in under 30 minutes, including a driver found on a vehicle roof at Calle Betelgeux and South Avenida Sirio at 4:47 p.m.
• 3:40
  Cedric: and a submerged vehicle being swept toward Speedway at North Alamo Avenue and East Rosewood Street at 5:01 p.m.
• 3:48
  Cedric: The National Weather Service also reported a swift water rescue in Brawley Wash near Manville Road in the Picture Rocks area, where 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain had fallen.
• 3:59
  Cedric: Nearly 16,000 Tucson Electric Power customers lost service, with 12,341 still out at 6:45 p.m.
• 4:07
  Cedric: after a storm snapped a power pole near Prudence and Broadway and brought a tree down onto lines.
• 4:13
  Cedric: The Flood Watch for the Tucson metro expired at 11 p.m.
• 4:17
  Cedric: Monday, but forecasters have flagged elevated storm and flash flood chances through Wednesday.
• 4:24
  Cedric: Arkansas: A wildfire reported at 1:15 p.m.
• 4:27
  Cedric: Monday burned roughly 200 acres inside Highland Industrial Park near East Camden and was reported contained at about 10:50 p.m.
• 4:35
  Cedric: The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office issued an immediate evacuation notice for the area north of U.S.
• 4:40
  Cedric: 278 between Calhoun County Road 10 and Road 95, and closed Arkansas 203 and Arkansas 274.
• 4:50
  Cedric: Three shelters opened in Hampton at Victory Baptist Church, the Hampton High School library, and Hampton First Assembly of God.
• 4:58
  Cedric: Southern Arkansas University Tech and the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy were evacuated at about 8:45 p.m., with students bused to the Camden Fairview High School gymnasium.
• 5:10
  Cedric: The Arkansas Forestry Division responded alongside industrial fire brigades from within the park.
• 5:16
  Cedric: No injuries and no explosions were reported.
• 5:19
  Cedric: California: The Lucas Fire in the CAL FIRE Sonoma Lake Napa Unit, 10 miles north of Upper Lake, stood at 4,109 acres and 25 percent containment with 2,609 assigned personnel, an increase of 805 in 24 hours.
• 5:36
  Cedric: Evacuation orders remain in place for multiple Lake County and Mendocino County zones, with additional evacuation warnings, and a Red Cross shelter is operating at Lake County Fairgrounds, Fritch Hall, 401 Martin Street in Lakeport.
• 5:51
  Cedric: Numerous residences and communication infrastructure are threatened.
• 5:55
  Cedric: In Monterey County, emergency management downgraded Plaskett Fire evacuation orders to warnings for zones MRY-F034, F035, and F036 on Monday and lifted warnings entirely for five additional zones.
• 6:09
  Cedric: Highway 1 is open and the Cambria shelter and temporary evacuation point are closed.
• 6:14
  Cedric: Evacuation orders remain for six Plaskett zones and for Timber Fire zones.
• 6:19
  Cedric: Colorado: The Swiss Roll Fire on the San Juan National Forest, 11 miles east of Pagosa Springs, grew 405 acres to 775 acres and remains at zero percent containment with moderate fire behavior.
• 6:32
  Cedric: Energy infrastructure is threatened and area, road, and trail closures are in effect.
• 6:37
  Cedric: Assigned personnel rose by 27 to 61.
• 6:41
  Cedric: No evacuations have been ordered.
• 6:44
  Cedric: Connecticut: Governor Ned Lamont and state officials briefed Monday on the response to Sunday's flash flooding.
• 6:51
  Cedric: State emergency management director Bill Turner reported no known injuries or fatalities, but said first responders performed dozens of water rescues statewide, with Bridgeport Fire Department alone reporting 30 to 40.
• 7:06
  Cedric: Connecticut Department of Transportation officials said dozens of roads and bridges closed temporarily, including Route 1, Interstate 95 in Greenwich, and the Merritt Parkway between Westport and Fairfield, and that Tweed New Haven Airport also closed briefly.
• 7:23
  Cedric: Turner asked residents to report September 13 storm damage, which could help the state qualify for federal disaster assistance.
• 7:31
  Cedric: Florida: A 12 inch water main broke east of Rock Springs Road in Apopka on Monday, cutting service to about 200 homes and damaging East Welch Road.
• 7:41
  Cedric: Service was restored by 5 p.m., but a precautionary boil water advisory remains in effect for the Wekiva Park, Parkview, and Wekiva Glen subdivisions and nearby businesses pending clearing tests.
• 7:53
  Cedric: Eastbound Welch Road lanes were closed with reopening estimated around 7:30 p.m.
• 7:58
  Cedric: Separately, the National Weather Service issued a Flood Warning Monday at 1:40 p.m.
• 8:03
  Cedric: for the Withlacoochee River at U.S.
• 8:05
  Cedric: 41 near Dunnellon, affecting Marion, Levy, and Citrus counties, with minor flooding forecast.
• 8:13
  Cedric: Hawaii: Hurricane Lowell recovery continues on Kauai.
• 8:16
  Cedric: The county reported Monday that all water systems are fully restored with no boil water notices in effect, though an island wide water conservation notice and a brown water advisory remain active.
• 8:28
  Cedric: Kauai Police Department and Kauai Emergency Management Agency non emergency phone lines remain out of service six days after the storm, and the public is being directed to alternate dispatch numbers.
• 8:40
  Cedric: The 911 system is functioning, and residents are asked to reserve it for life threatening emergencies.
• 8:47
  Cedric: Hawaii's congressional delegation urged approval Monday of Governor Josh Green's two September 9 major disaster declaration requests, an expedited request covering Kauai and Maui counties for Hurricane Lowell and a statewide request for Hurricane Lala and Tropical Storm Moke.
• 9:05
  Cedric: The delegation letter states that Kauai Island Utility Cooperative lost power to roughly 90 percent of its accounts during Lowell, that thousands of residents still lack electricity to refrigerate food and medication, and that Kaumalapau Harbor on Lanai, the island's
• 9:21
  Cedric: sole commercial cargo access for roughly 3,000 residents, was damaged and is inoperable.
• 9:28
  Cedric: FEMA's validated joint preliminary damage assessment confirms more than $67 million in Public Assistance eligible damage statewide and 267 damaged residences across three counties.
• 9:41
  Cedric: Indiana: Two Federal Register notices published Monday amended the major disaster declaration for Indiana, FEMA-4933-DR, including the Public Assistance only component.
• 9:51
  Cedric: Emergency managers with open project worksheets should review the amended designations.
• 9:56
  Cedric: Iowa: The National Weather Service issued a Flood Watch Monday at 11:24 a.m.
• 10:01
  Cedric: running through 1 p.m.
• 10:02
  Cedric: Wednesday for central and south central Iowa, with a second watch covering southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
• 10:10
  Cedric: A Tornado Watch ran through midnight for southwestern Iowa.
• 10:14
  Cedric: A near continuous series of severe thunderstorm warnings ran from roughly 8 p.m.
• 10:19
  Cedric: past 1 a.m.
• 10:20
  Cedric: across Fremont, Montgomery, and Page counties, including Clarinda and Shambaugh, citing potential gusts to 80 mph, hail to 2 inches, and torrential rain.
• 10:31
  Cedric: No confirmed tornado touchdown or damage assessment was available at publication.
• 10:36
  Cedric: Missouri: The National Weather Service issued a series of Flash Flood Warnings across Missouri through Monday morning, followed by a Flood Warning at mid morning covering central Andrew County and southeastern Holt County.
• 10:48
  Cedric: A broad Flood Watch covered 14 northwest Missouri counties including Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Caldwell, Clinton, Daviess, De Kalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Mercer, Nodaway, and Worth.
• 11:02
  Cedric: No state emergency declaration was issued in the window.
• 11:06
  Cedric: Nevada: A Small Business Administration administrative declaration published Monday for the Cottonwood Fire and flooding in Utah extends disaster loan eligibility to Lincoln County, Nevada.
• 11:17
  Cedric: Physical damage filings are due November 9, 2026 and economic injury filings are due June 9, 2027.
• 11:26
  Cedric: The McConnell Fire near Orovada holds at 33,562 acres and 91 percent containment with no evacuations or closures.
• 11:35
  Cedric: We have more to cover this morning, but first, a quick word from our sponsors.
• 11:40
  Cedric: Thanks for supporting our sponsors who help make EM Morning Brief possible.
• 11:44
  Cedric: Now, back to this morning’s updates.
• 11:47
  Cedric: New Mexico: The National Weather Service issued multiple Flash Flood Warnings across New Mexico on Monday.
• 11:53
  Cedric: A 5:43 p.m.
• 11:55
  Cedric: product from the Albuquerque office covered northwestern Torrance and northeastern Valencia counties until 8:45 p.m., citing up to 2.5 inches of rain already fallen.
• 12:06
  Cedric: Additional warnings covered northwestern Socorro County, south central Grant County, and the Lake Roberts area.
• 12:13
  Cedric: Separately, the Monument Fire, a new large incident under New Mexico State Forestry's Capitan District 7 miles south of Tinnie, was reported at 350 acres and zero percent containment with minimal fire behavior and no threats listed.
• 12:28
  Cedric: No evacuations or sheltering were reported.
• 12:31
  Cedric: North Carolina: A 30 inch water main broke in the early hours of Monday, placing Cary and Morrisville customers in the Central Pressure Zone under a precautionary System Pressure Advisory.
• 12:43
  Cedric: Following state Division of Water Resources guidance, affected customers were told to boil water for one minute or use bottled water, with the advisory in effect through at least 12:01 a.m.
• 12:54
  Cedric: Tuesday.
• 12:56
  Cedric: The Town of Cary stated no harmful bacteria had been detected.
• 13:01
  Cedric: NC 55 closed in both directions between Jenks Road and Lewey Drive, with one lane each way expected by 7 a.m.
• 13:08
  Cedric: Apex and Raleigh Durham International Airport were not affected.
• 13:13
  Cedric: Reporting put the affected population at roughly 50,000 customers with 30 schools dismissing early.
• 13:20
  Cedric: The Town has since posted that the advisory is lifted with all post break testing clear of bacteria.
• 13:26
  Cedric: Separately, the Wilmington forecast office issued a Beach Hazards Statement Monday at 8:17 p.m.
• 13:33
  Cedric: for coastal Pender and New Hanover counties for a strong longshore current and moderate rip current risk through Tuesday evening.
• 13:41
  Cedric: North Dakota: A Federal Register notice published this morning covers the Public Assistance only major disaster declaration for North Dakota, FEMA-4934-DR, for severe storms, straight line winds, and tornadoes, with an incident period of June 7 to 9, 2026, in
• 13:58
  Cedric: Bottineau, Burke, Divide, McLean, Mercer, Oliver, and Williams counties.
• 14:04
  Cedric: Small Business Administration physical damage filings are due November 1, 2026 and economic injury filings June 1, 2027.
• 14:14
  Cedric: Separately, the National Weather Service issued a High Wind Warning Monday for western into north central North Dakota with west winds 30 to 40 mph and gusts to 60 mph, plus Wind Advisories with gusts to 55 mph across 10
• 14:28
  Cedric: additional counties.
• 14:30
  Cedric: No outage counts or damage reports were confirmed.
• 14:33
  Cedric: Oklahoma: Oklahoma Emergency Management issued an immediate evacuation alert at 5:30 p.m.
• 14:40
  Cedric: Monday for a large and destructive wildfire burning out of control north of Atoka and spreading rapidly north along the west side of Atoka Reservoir, directing residents between Highway 69, East Tower Road, and North Coal Creek Road to leave
• 14:54
  Cedric: immediately and evacuate northwest toward Lehigh.
• 14:59
  Cedric: All Atoka County fire departments plus Coal County crews, Oklahoma State Forestry ground and air resources, Choctaw Nation Forestry, Bureau of Indian Affairs fire departments, and EMS responded.
• 15:11
  Cedric: The evacuation order was later lifted.
• 15:14
  Cedric: Separately, the Norman forecast office issued a Fire Warning at 3:32 p.m.
• 15:18
  Cedric: at the request of Oklahoma Forestry Services and Roger Mills County Emergency Management for northeastern Roger Mills County, for a dangerous wildfire 5 miles east of Roll moving north at 2 mph and impacting Oklahoma 47, with responders told to
• 15:34
  Cedric: anticipate wind driven runs, torching, and spot fires that may exceed traditional offensive suppression tactics.
• 15:42
  Cedric: The Gracemont Fire in Caddo County remained at approximately 3,000 acres and zero percent containment with extreme fire behavior including short range spotting, wind driven runs, and crowning, and evacuations in effect.
• 15:56
  Cedric: Oklahoma Forestry Services mobilized Task Force Goldsby and Task Force Weatherford, citing energy release components in the 90th percentile and fine dead fuel moisture near 5 percent.
• 16:08
  Cedric: Oregon: Three Mt.
• 16:09
  Cedric: Hood National Forest fires continue to carry evacuations plus area, road, and trail closures.
• 16:16
  Cedric: The Austin Fire, 25 miles southeast of Estacada, stood at 12,879 acres and 60 percent containment with 840 personnel.
• 16:25
  Cedric: The Narrows Fire, 15 miles southeast of Estacada, was at 304 acres and 89 percent containment.
• 16:32
  Cedric: The Grasshopper Fire, 14 miles southwest of Dufur, reached 94,003 acres and 97 percent containment with numerous structures threatened.
• 16:42
  Cedric: Fire behavior was minimal at all three, with precipitation over the Austin and Grasshopper fire areas the prior day.
• 16:50
  Cedric: South Carolina: The Wilmington forecast office issued a Beach Hazards Statement Monday at 8:17 p.m.
• 16:56
  Cedric: covering coastal Georgetown County, warning of a strong longshore current and moderate rip current risk from 6 a.m.
• 17:03
  Cedric: Tuesday through Tuesday evening.
• 17:05
  Cedric: No other material updates in the window.
• 17:09
  Cedric: South Dakota: A Federal Register notice published Monday covers the Public Assistance only major disaster declaration for South Dakota, FEMA-4938-DR, dated September 1, 2026.
• 17:22
  Cedric: Recovery staff should review the designated areas and filing timelines.
• 17:26
  Cedric: Texas: Texas A&M Forest Service responded to several new wildfires Monday afternoon under elevated fire conditions, and the state remains at Wildfire Preparedness Level 3.
• 17:39
  Cedric: The Arrowhead Fire in Clay County, north of East Arrowhead Drive roughly 8 miles southwest of Henrietta, was reported at 700 acres and zero percent containment, with aircraft scooping from Lake Arrowhead and road closures around the lake.
• 17:53
  Cedric: The Clay County Sheriff's Office reported at 10 p.m.
• 17:56
  Cedric: that unified command had stopped all forward progress, with hotspots and flare ups still being worked and crews remaining overnight.
• 18:05
  Cedric: The Elm Creek Fire in Limestone County along County Road 334 near Mart was reported at 754 acres and 50 percent containment after growing substantially through the evening.
• 18:18
  Cedric: The Hydra Fire in Bosque County near the old V Bar Ranch off County Road 1035 was reported at 400 acres and 5 percent containment, with no mandatory evacuation orders in place and voluntary evacuation notifications made.
• 18:33
  Cedric: The Upton 3 Fire in Tom Green County also drew a Forest Service response.
• 18:38
  Cedric: The Ross Fire in Palo Pinto and Jack counties stands at 90,400 acres and approximately 88 percent containment with 157 structures destroyed, 140 damaged, and 453 saved.
• 18:52
  Cedric: On the recovery side, a Federal Register notice published Monday amended the Public Assistance only declaration FEMA-4935-DR, and a Small Business Administration administrative declaration published Monday for severe storms and tornadoes with an August 28, 2026 incident date names Bexar
• 19:10
  Cedric: County as primary, with physical damage filings due November 9, 2026 and economic injury filings due June 10, 2027.
• 19:21
  Cedric: Utah: A Small Business Administration administrative declaration published Monday covers the Cottonwood Fire and flooding for the June 22 to July 24, 2026 incident period, naming Beaver County as primary.
• 19:34
  Cedric: Physical damage filings are due November 9, 2026 and economic injury filings June 9, 2027.
• 19:42
  Cedric: The Slough Canyon Fire 41 miles east of Price holds at 4,774 acres and 66 percent containment with no acreage change and no threats or closures listed.
• 19:54
  Cedric: Wyoming: The Moonshine Fire, under the Bureau of Land Management High Desert District 17 miles southwest of Wheatland in the central Laramie Range, stood at 7,170 acres and 46 percent containment, a gain of 380 acres, with active fire behavior
• 20:10
  Cedric: including backing, torching, and short range spotting.
• 20:14
  Cedric: Residences are threatened and evacuations are in effect.
• 20:18
  Cedric: The lightning caused fire has 333 assigned personnel, has destroyed two structures, started in Albany County, and has crossed into Platte County under a Wyoming Type 3 incident management team.
• 20:31
  Cedric: Puerto Rico: Two separate generating unit failures on Monday forced LUMA Energy to run load shedding twice in one day.
• 20:39
  Cedric: San Juan Unit 5 went offline suddenly around noon, and Genera PR announced at 5 p.m.
• 20:45
  Cedric: that the combustion turbine was back in service while warning the system still faced roughly 140 megawatts of capacity shortfall for that evening's peak.
• 20:54
  Cedric: Aguirre Unit 2, which had 275 megawatts of available capacity beforehand, then tripped unexpectedly Monday evening.
• 21:02
  Cedric: LUMA reported 107,914 customers without service at 6:40 p.m., about 7.35 percent of its 1,468,223 subscribers, with San Juan hardest hit at 54,462 customers, followed by Ponce at 13,028, Bayamon at 11,975, Caguas at 8,508, Arecibo at 7,781, Mayaguez at
• 21:25
  Cedric: 6,957, and Carolina at 5,203.
• 21:29
  Cedric: Genera PR is investigating the cause.
• 21:32
  Cedric: Costa Sur Unit 5 and AES Unit 1 were already out of service from the prior weekend.
• 21:38
  Cedric: LUMA reports 18 load shedding events since July.
• 21:42
  Cedric: Note that reported customer counts for Monday's midday event vary across outlets, from roughly 86,000 to more than 179,000, and this brief uses the figures LUMA's own portal reported at the timestamps cited.
• 21:56
  Cedric: That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
• 21:59
  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.
• 22:06
  Cedric: Subscribe on the Emergency Management Network on Substack, or follow on your favorite podcast player.
• 22:12
  Cedric: EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices Podcast.
• 22:15
  Cedric: Stay Safe.