Shownotes
The nation holds at Preparedness Level 5 with 84 large fires and more than 26,000 personnel committed, and the Northwest carries 45 uncontained large fires across Oregon and Washington. Idaho’s governor declares a fire disaster emergency and deploys the National Guard to the Big Grass Fire, while Washington’s Kaiser Canyon Fire expands Level 3 evacuations. In the East, flash flooding from the Catskills to New England drives county emergency declarations, water rescues, and an Amtrak Hudson Line suspension, with two deaths in New Jersey. Also in this episode: CISA adds an actively exploited Cisco firewall vulnerability to the KEV catalog, Kilauea wraps eruption episode 52, a federal grid emergency order stays active for Southwest Power Pool through August 3, and Missouri requests a federal disaster declaration for July’s floods. EM Morning Brief is your concise daily update on national and state-by-state emergency management news. Produced by Sitch Radio, an EOC Voices podcast.
Key Takeaways
• National wildfire posture: The country remains at Preparedness Level 5 with 84 large fires, 309 new starts, and 26,036 personnel committed; the Northwest holds 45 uncontained large fires with international support on the ground.
• Idaho and the Big Grass Fire: Governor Little declares a fire disaster emergency and deploys the National Guard; Level 3 Go Now evacuations remain in Owyhee County on a fire near 300,000 acres.
• Washington evacuations: The Kaiser Canyon Fire expands Level 3 evacuations at 126,402 acres and 16 percent containment; the Bradeen Hill Fire holds Level 3 orders near Gifford at zero containment.
• Oregon fire siege: About 24,000 residents remain under evacuation notices, and the state invokes its 11th conflagration of 2026 for the Grasshopper Fire.
• Northeast flash flooding: Five to 10 inches of rain bring emergency declarations in three New York jurisdictions, evacuations, water rescues in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two deaths, and an Amtrak Hudson Line suspension.
• Grid and heat: A federal emergency order keeps Southwest Power Pool dispatching needed generation through August 3; Texas is under widespread heat advisories and Jacksonville opens cooling centers.
• Cyber: CISA adds CVE-2026-20316, an actively exploited Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center credential flaw, to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; hot fixes are available.
• Volcano and tropics: Kilauea’s episode 52 ends with fountains near 500 feet and episode 53 is likely; post-tropical Fausto keeps dangerous surf on Hawaii’s east-facing shores; the Atlantic stays quiet.
• Missouri: The governor requests a presidential major disaster declaration for nine flood-damaged counties with damage topping $26.5 million.
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Sources
NIFC and InciWeb
• NIFC National Fire News: Preparedness Level 5, 84 large fires, national statistics
• NIFC Incident Management Situation Report: federal fire rollup for July 29, 2026
• InciWeb incident list: current large fire acreages and updates
CISA
• CISA alert: one Known Exploited Vulnerability added July 29, 2026 (Cisco Secure FMC CVE-2026-20316)
USGS
• HVO daily update: Kilauea episode 52 ends, episode 53 likely
Tropical weather
• National Hurricane Center: active tropical cyclone information, Atlantic and East Pacific
• Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Fausto becomes remnant low north of Hawaii
California
• CAL FIRE: Raleigh Fire incident page, Fresno County
• GV Wire: Auberry evacuation orders issued as Raleigh Fire burns
• CAL FIRE: Fish Fire incident page, Kern County
Florida
• News4Jax: Jacksonville opens cooling centers amid extreme heat
Idaho
• Office of the Governor: fire disaster emergency declared, National Guard deployed to Big Grass Fire
• Idaho Capital Sun: Little declares wildfire disaster emergency, authorizes Guard
Kansas
• KDHE: boil water advisory issued for portion of Pottawatomie County RWD 4
• KDHE: Valley Falls boil water advisory rescinded
Louisiana
• Department of Energy: Section 202(c) emergency order 202-26-37 for Southwest Power Pool
• WWL-TV: federal government steps in to prevent blackouts amid heat wave
Maryland
• Baltimore Sun: BGE restoration status after storm outages
Massachusetts
• Boston.com: flash flood warnings as state sees heavy rain
• Weather.com: Northeast flash flooding recap
Missouri
• St. Louis Public Radio: Kehoe requests federal disaster declaration for July floods
Nevada
• Elko Daily Free Press: Secret Pass Fire threatens residences in Starr Valley
New Jersey and Pennsylvania
• CNN: Northeast storm flash flooding, rescues, and deaths
• New Jersey Office of Emergency Management: news and activation updates
New York
• Spectrum News: Capital Region flash flooding, declarations, and Amtrak suspension
• Columbia County: state of emergency declaration and travel advisory
Oregon
• KLCC: Oregon wildfires growing fast and early, statewide evacuation figures
• KPTV: conflagration invoked for Grasshopper Fire, evacuation updates
• Central Oregon Fire Info: Rowe Creek Complex update July 29
• Central Oregon Fire Info: Hay Creek Complex update July 29
Washington
• InciWeb: Kaiser Canyon Fire incident information
• Daily Dispatch: Kaiser Canyon Fire grows past 126,000 acres, evacuations upgraded
• KHQ: Bradeen Hill Fire near Gifford with zero containment
Wisconsin
• WIBIZ: Governor Evers declares state of emergency after severe storms
• FOX 11: Menasha residents face power outages and shelter needs after tornado
Transcripts
Good morning.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:The nation remains at Preparedness Level 5, the highest level on the scale.
Speaker A:The National Interagency Fire center reports heavy initial attack activity with 309 new fires in the latest reporting period.
Speaker A:Firefighters are working to suppress 84 large fires across the country, including nine new large incidents.
Speaker A:A total of 26,036 firefighters and support personnel are engaged nationwide.
Speaker A:The Northwest geographic area remains the center of activity at its own preparedness level 5, with 45 uncontained large fires and 18 complex incident management teams assigned in Oregon and Washington.
Speaker A:International support includes an incident management team and fireline personnel from Australia and New Zealand and four military MAF FS air tankers are staged at Klamath Falls, Oregon and Redding, California.
Speaker A:In the east, slow moving storms produce major flash flooding from the Catskills to the Capital Region of New York and across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New England.
Speaker A:Rainfall totals reach 5 to 10 inches in parts of New York with county emergency declarations, evacuations, water rescues and an Amtrak Hudson Line suspension.
Speaker A:Two storm related deaths are reported in New Jersey.
Speaker A:In the middle of the country, extreme heat keeps the grid under stress.
Speaker A:A federal section 202 emergency order directing Southwest Power Pool to run needed generation remains in effect through August 3rd.
Speaker A:Heat advisories cover much of north and Central Texas and Jacksonville, Florida activates emergency cooling centers.
Speaker A: lnerability to its catalog CVE: Speaker A:Episode 52 of the Kilauea Summit eruption ends early Wednesday after about 7.4 hours of lava fountaining that reached roughly 500ft and the observatory says episode 53 is likely.
Speaker A:The Atlantic is quiet with no development expected for seven days.
Speaker A:Hurricane Genevieve is weakening in the East Pacific, far from land and post Tropical.
Speaker A:Fausto passes north of Hawaii, keeping dangerous surf on east facing shores.
Speaker A:Let's run through the States.
Speaker A:The Raleigh fire starts Wednesday afternoon near Aubrey in Fresno county and triggers evacuation orders for three zones.
Speaker A:Cal Fire stops forward progress at approximately 30 acres with 20% containment.
Speaker A:Two structures are destroyed and evacuation orders are downgraded and then lifted the same evening in Kern county.
Speaker A: The Fish Fire stands at: Speaker A:Florida Three new large fires are reported in the State.
Speaker A:Holy Land 6L28 and Loggerhead.
Speaker A:In Jacksonville, the city activates its emergency cooling center contingency plan under an extreme heat warning with heat index values forecast near 113 degrees and offers free bus rides to cooling sites.
Speaker A:Hawaii the Kauaihai Road fire is a new large fire on the big island at 700 acres and 0 containment 2 miles southeast of Kauaihai village at Kilauea.
Speaker A:Episode 52 of the summit eruption ends at 2:36am HST Wednesday.
Speaker A:The volcano stays at advisory with aviation Code Yellow and Tephra.
Speaker A:Fall is limited to the closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Speaker A:Post Tropical Fausto brings gusty winds and dangerous surf to east facing shores as it passes north of the islands.
Speaker A:Idaho governor Brad Little declares a fire disaster emergency and deploys the Idaho National Guard to the Big Grass Fire, which burns across the Oregon Idaho border in Oyhee and Malheur counties.
Speaker A:The federal situation report lists the fire at 292,087 acres and 5% containment, while state reporting puts it near 301,000 acres and 7%.
Speaker A:Official federal figures are favored here.
Speaker A:Level three go now.
Speaker A:Evacuation orders cover South Mountain, Pleasant Valley, Triangle and surrounding areas, with Silver city at level 2.
Speaker A:Set status Kansas the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announces a boil water advisory for a portion of Potawatomi county rural Water District 4 and an adjacent city.
Speaker A:Separately, the boil water advisory for Valley Falls in Jefferson county is rescinded.
Speaker A:Louisiana the federal grid emergency posture continues amid dangerous heat.
Speaker A: ent of energy emergency order: Speaker A:It is the second such federal intervention in about two weeks and state outlets report continued rolling outage risk.
Speaker A:Official order issued about four days ago.
Speaker A:Risk posture remains active.
Speaker A:Maryland Power restoration continues after Tuesday's flash flooding storms across Central Maryland.
Speaker A:About 3,900 BGE customers remain without power as of Wednesday afternoon, with the utility expecting most service back by Thursday.
Speaker A:Massachusetts Flash flood warnings cover much of western Massachusetts Wednesday, including Springfield, Chicopee and Westfield, with a flood warning for Berkshire County.
Speaker A:Most of the state records 1 to 4 inches of rain, with up to 7 inches in parts of Berkshire county and numerous road closures.
Speaker A:Gov.
Speaker A:Mike Kehoe requests a presidential major disaster declaration for nine southern Missouri counties hit by the July 9 through 11 flash flooding.
Speaker A:Preliminary damage assessments total more than $26.5 million, with Iron county alone above 19.7 million, well past the statewide threshold of 11.9 million.
Speaker A: d federal disaster request of: Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:Two Nevada National Guard helicopters are mobilized and a Type 3 Incident Management Team takes command.
Speaker A:New Jersey Storms drop 3 to 6 inches of rain, with several North Jersey locations logging a full July's worth of rain.
Speaker A:Patterson first responders rescue at least 20 people from floodwaters, a 32 year old man dies after a lightning strike in Monroe Township and the body of a 10 year old boy is recovered from the Passaic River.
Speaker A:While the search continues for a 10 year old girl, the state emergency operations center is activated.
Speaker A:New York 5 to 10 inches of rain fall from the Catskills to the Capital district with nearly 12 inches recorded at Kodak in Rensselaer County.
Speaker A:A Civil War era mill collapses in Skodack.
Speaker A:Low lying areas of Livingston Manor evacuate and the Village of Liberty.
Speaker A:Columbia county and Rensselaer county each declare states of emergency.
Speaker A:Columbia County's declaration includes a travel advisory through 7am Thursday.
Speaker A:Amtrak suspends Hudson Line service between Rensselaer and New York Penn Station for much of Wednesday due to high water and debris on the tracks.
Speaker A:Oregon Roughly 24,000 Oregonians remain under some level of evacuation notice with 31 large fires statewide and more than 1.5 million acres burned this season.
Speaker A: th invocation of: Speaker A:The Row Creek complex in Wheeler county reaches 300,597 acres on Inciweb with about 33% containment and some evacuation levels are reduced as crews make progress.
Speaker A:The Hay Creek complex holds level one and two evacuations with reductions for Antelope and Shineko.
Speaker A:The Coleman Creek Fire near Juntura stands at more than 180,000 acres with evacuations and road closures in effect.
Speaker A:Pennsylvania the same storm system drops 3 to 6 inches across Eastern Pennsylvania.
Speaker A:In Redding, crews rescue a family with a young child from a vehicle stranded in floodwater.
Speaker A:Washington the Kaiser Canyon Fire on the Colville Reservation in Okanagan county grows to 126,402 acres at 16% containment.
Speaker A:Level 3 Go now.
Speaker A:Evacuations expand Wednesday for the North Armstrong Meadows zone and Columbia River Campground as the fire pushes into Ferry county toward Omack Lake.
Speaker A:1016 Personnel are assigned in Stevens County.
Speaker A:The Bradin hill Fire burns 4,094 acres at 0 containment with Level 3 orders for the Gifford area.
Speaker A:The SCIO fire on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a new large incident.
Speaker A:Wisconsin governor Tony Evers declares a state of emergency in response to Monday's EF3 tornado through Appleton, Neenah and Menasha official Update published about 40 hours ago.
Speaker A:68 People were treated for non serious injuries.
Speaker A:Outages topped 130,000 customers at their peak and Menasha residents still face power outages and shelter needs as response operations continue.
Speaker A:All other states and territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
Speaker A:That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
Speaker A:New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5am hour PT, so the day starts with clarity instead of catch up.
Speaker A:Subscribe on the Emergency Management Network on Substack or follow on your favorite podcast player.
Speaker A:EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
Speaker A:Stay safe.
