Preparedness Level 5 holds with 94 uncontained large fires; CISA adds three exploited vulnerabilities with Sunday federal deadlines

The nation stays at Preparedness Level 5 with 94 uncontained large fires and nearly 22,000 personnel committed, as the Little Giant and Sinlahekin fires drive evacuations in Washington and Clackamas County, Oregon issues a Level 3 Go Now order along a closed Highway 224. Flash flooding hits New Jersey and puts Philadelphia International Airport under a ground stop. Monterey County, California upgrades evacuation zones and hard closes Highway 1 for firing operations on the Timber Fire. CISA adds three vulnerabilities to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog with federal remediation due Sunday and publishes five industrial control system advisories touching the emergency services, energy, and water sectors. Plus federal registration centers open in Indiana, a Wisconsin assistance deadline approaches, and Tropical Storm Dolly is watched from the Caribbean. 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: Preparedness Level 5 holds with 94 uncontained large fires and 21,854 personnel committed. Nearly 8 million acres have burned year to date, 164 percent of the ten year average. Australian and New Zealand crews and 240 U.S. soldiers are supporting Northwest operations.

• Today’s fire weather: West-southwest winds gusting 35 to 45 miles per hour with humidity of 5 to 20 percent, with locally critical conditions from northeast California and northwest Nevada into southeast Oregon and southwest Idaho.

• Active evacuations: Little Giant, Three Queens, Grand Park 2, Goat, and the Wonderland Complex in Washington; McCully, Paradise, and Hagen in Oregon plus a new Level 3 order in Clackamas County; Cherry Fire in Lemhi County, Idaho; Sand Creek in Montana; Frijoles in New Mexico; Plaskett and Timber in Monterey County, California; Mukluk in Alaska.

• Lifeline disruption in the mid-Atlantic: Philadelphia International Airport recorded 391 delays and 254 cancellations under a Thursday ground stop, and Staten Island Railway service was suspended between Huguenot and Tottenville.

• Cyber action items: Federal agencies have a Sunday, August 30 deadline on the ownCloud and Linux kernel entries added to the KEV catalog Thursday. Two of Thursday’s five ICS advisories touch emergency services, energy, and water and wastewater, and fixes are not planned for two fuel management product variants.

• Assistance deadlines: Wisconsin applicants for the April 2026 storms have until Monday, August 31. Indiana replacement food assistance affidavits are also due Monday, and federal mobile registration intake centers open in five Indiana counties today.

• Water system stress: Boil water notices are active in Sumter County, Alabama; north Meridian, Mississippi; and West Columbia, South Carolina. On St. Croix, a new leak has returned low or no pressure to gravity fed service areas amid extreme drought.

• Volcanoes and tropics: No U.S. volcano changed alert level. Great Sitkin remains at Watch and Kilauea at Advisory. Tropical Storm Dolly carries no U.S. watches or warnings, though remnant moisture could reach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Sunday into Monday.

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Sources

Cedric: 00:00:00

Get EM Morning Brief delivered directly to your favorite podcast player.

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: 00:00:04

Link is in the show notes below

or search EM Morning Brief.

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: 00:00:08

Good morning, I’m Cedric and

this is your EM Morning Brief

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for Friday, August 28, 2026.

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The country remains at

National Preparedness Level 5.

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: 00:00:19

Thursday’s national situation report

counts 94 uncontained large fires

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and 21,854 personnel committed,

down about 500 from the day before.

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Year to date, 51,434 fires have

burned just under 8 million acres,

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164 percent of the ten year average.

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Sixteen states have large fires, led

by Oregon and Washington with 16 each.

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Two international incident management

teams and 212 fireline personnel

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from Australia and New Zealand are

assigned to the Northwest and Great

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Basin, and 240 soldiers from Joint

Base Lewis-McChord are working the

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Little Giant Fire in Washington.

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Predictive Services forecasts

west-southwest winds gusting 35 to

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45 miles per hour with humidity of

5 to 20 percent today, with locally

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critical conditions from northeast

California and northwest Nevada into

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southeast Oregon and southwest Idaho.

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Thursday’s severe weather

concentrated in the mid-Atlantic.

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Flash flooding hit central and

southern New Jersey, and Philadelphia

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International Airport went under a

ground stop that produced 391 delays

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and 254 cancellations by 9 p.m.

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In the Southwest, Extreme Heat

Warnings run through Saturday evening

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for parts of southwest Arizona and

southeast California, with afternoon

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highs forecast at 106 to 116 degrees.

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In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm

Dolly is moving west across the

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central basin at 24 miles per

hour with 40 mile per hour winds.

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There are no watches or

warnings for any U.S.

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territory, and the Hurricane Center

expects Dolly to lose tropical structure

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before reaching the Leeward Islands.

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On the cyber side, CISA added three

vulnerabilities to the Known Exploited

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Vulnerabilities catalog Thursday, with

federal remediation due Sunday for

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the ownCloud and Linux kernel entries.

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CISA also published five industrial

control system advisories Thursday.

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Two matter for this audience: a fuel

management system flaw tagged to the

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emergency services sector, where fixes

are not planned for two product variants,

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and a communications test set flaw

affecting the energy and water sectors.

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The Department of Homeland

Security has no active National

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Terrorism Advisory System bulletin.

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The State Department updated travel

advisories for Bahrain, Bosnia and

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Herzegovina, and Ethiopia on Thursday.

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Let’s run through the states.

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Alabama: The Sumter County Water

Authority issued a boil water notice

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Thursday afternoon after a power

outage affected the water system.

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It covers Ward, Sumter 9, Highway

17 South, Whitfield, Highway 80,

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and Bellamy, and stays in effect

until the authority lifts it.

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Alaska: The Mukluk Fire near Tok

is in mop up around structures,

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with roughly 250 firefighters

working impacted neighborhoods.

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Great Sitkin remains at Watch and

Orange with slow lava effusion

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inside the summit crater.

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Shishaldin and Kupreanof

are at Advisory and Yellow.

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No Alaska volcano changed alert level.

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: 00:03:28

Arizona: Extreme Heat Warnings cover

Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa,

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Pima, Pinal, and Yuma counties through

Saturday, with highs to 119 degrees.

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The Maricopa County Heat Relief Network

is operating its standing seasonal

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network of more than 200 sites.

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: 00:03:45

No new local heat emergency

was declared in the window.

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: 00:03:49

Arkansas: The Pine Tree Road Fire

in Union County reached 100 percent

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containment Thursday at 2,102 acres.

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At its peak the fire forced

about 150 evacuations.

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No homes were lost and no

injuries were reported.

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California: Two Monterey County

fires are driving evacuations.

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: 00:04:09

The Plaskett Fire in Los Padres National

Forest grew to about 1,700 acres

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Thursday, with new evacuation orders

and a full closure of Highway 1 from

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north of Gorda to a point south of Old

Coast Road, with no reopening estimate.

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On the Timber Fire, now near 19,300

acres at 21 percent containment, the

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county upgraded several zones and

added shelter in place orders at 1 p.m.

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Thursday to support firing

operations, with a hard Highway

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1 closure between mileposts 42.6

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and 50.

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No public safety power shutoffs

are active anywhere in the state.

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Colorado: The state emergency operations

center remains at Response Level 2

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with all community lifelines stable.

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The Aspen Acres Fire in Custer

and Pueblo counties is at 102,004

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acres and 82 percent contained,

up five points from Wednesday.

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: 00:05:02

The Elk Fire in Hinsdale County

is at 7,257 acres and 46 percent.

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A flood watch remains over

the Aspen Acres burn scar.

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Hawaii: Kilauea is at Advisory and Yellow,

not erupting, with the summit eruption

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paused after Monday’s fountaining episode.

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: 00:05:20

The observatory reports its monitoring

network is mostly recovered from

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recent power and storm related outages.

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Hurricane Lala recovery continues on

Hawaii Island, with the emergency shelter

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at Naalehu Elementary still open and

Highway 11 access to Pahala and Naalehu

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limited to emergency and essential travel.

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Idaho: Lemhi County ordered evacuations

Thursday evening for the Fourth of

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July drainage and Kriley Gulch after

the Cherry Fire started along U.S.

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93 between Salmon and North Fork.

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Deputies went door to door.

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: 00:05:54

The fire was about 40 acres

at the time of the order.

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: 00:05:58

Separately, the Blaine County Sheriff

lowered the Wildhorse Fire evacuation

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near Carey from Go Now to Set Thursday

morning as conditions improved.

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The Wildhorse Fire is above 74,000

acres at roughly 10 percent containment.

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Indiana: Federal mobile registration

intake centers open today for

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survivors of the August 11 storms,

derecho, and flooding covered by

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the major disaster declaration.

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Sites are open in Marion, Delaware,

Fayette, Franklin, and Lake counties.

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No appointment and no documents

are required to register.

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State emergency management notes

permanent recovery centers are still

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being sited, so these are registration

events, not full service centers.

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Replacement food assistance

affidavits are due Monday.

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: 00:06:44

Mississippi: The City of Meridian

issued a precautionary boil water

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notice Thursday morning for north

Meridian, bounded roughly by Highway

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493, North Hills Street, 13th Place,

11th Avenue, and Poplar Springs Drive.

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Crews are collecting samples and the

notice holds until testing clears.

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We have more to cover this morning, but

first, a quick word from our sponsors.

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Thanks for supporting our sponsors who

help make EM Morning Brief possible.

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Now, back to this morning’s updates.

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Montana: The Sand Creek Fire in Beaverhead

County is at 33,690 acres and 11 percent

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contained, with evacuations in effect

and numerous structures threatened.

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Four structures have been lost.

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Nebraska: Thursday evening storms produced

measured gusts of 74 miles per hour at

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Callaway and 70 miles per hour south of

Lexington, with tree and property damage

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and power outages in northern Lexington.

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: 00:07:43

A brief landspout was

reported north of Mullen.

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: 00:07:46

No emergency declarations resulted.

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: 00:07:49

Nevada: Washoe County lifted all

remaining Hawk Fire evacuation warnings

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: 00:07:54

Thursday and reopened affected roads.

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: 00:07:56

The fire is holding at 15,085

acres and 93 percent contained,

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: 00:08:01

with 48 structures lost.

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: 00:08:03

A Forest Service closure remains over

the burn area, and the state demobilized

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: 00:08:07

its Task Force 1 canine search team.

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: 00:08:11

New Jersey: This was the

hardest hit state Thursday.

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: 00:08:15

Flash flooding put near waist high

water on North Avenue in Elizabeth,

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: 00:08:19

stranding and disabling vehicles,

with the city setting a deadline to

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: 00:08:23

move stalled cars before impoundment.

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: 00:08:27

Floodwater closed multiple roads

around Glassboro and entered several

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: 00:08:30

buildings on the Rowan University

campus, damaging vehicles in parking

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: 00:08:34

lots and flooding a residence hall lobby.

129

: 00:08:37

Delsea Drive near Pitman Downer Road

was impassable Thursday evening, and

130

: 00:08:41

Gloucester City residents reported water

rising three to four feet on King Street.

131

: 00:08:46

The National Weather Service had

forecast one to two inches with

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localized three to five inches and

rates of one to three inches per hour.

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Water had receded in most

areas by Friday morning.

134

: 00:08:59

New Mexico: The Frijoles Fire in the

Santa Fe National Forest is at 15,288

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: 00:09:05

acres and 59 percent contained, with

evacuations in effect and residences and

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communications infrastructure threatened.

137

: 00:09:14

The City of Texico lifted its boil

water notice Thursday afternoon after

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: 00:09:18

repairs in the Upper Canyon area.

139

: 00:09:20

New York: New York City Emergency

Management issued a travel advisory

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: 00:09:25

for all five boroughs through 11 p.m.

141

: 00:09:27

Thursday, with a flood watch citywide and

a flash flood warning for Staten Island.

142

: 00:09:33

Staten Island Railway service was

suspended between Huguenot and Tottenville

143

: 00:09:37

because of flooding near Richmond Valley.

144

: 00:09:40

The city advised basement

apartment residents to prepare

145

: 00:09:43

to move to higher ground.

146

: 00:09:46

Oregon: The Clackamas County Sheriff

issued a Level 3 Go Now order Thursday for

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: 00:09:50

the area east of Fish Creek as the Austin

and Narrows fires burned uncontained, and

148

: 00:09:55

Highway 224 closed east of Fish Creek.

149

: 00:09:58

The Mount Hood National Forest expanded

its emergency closure to include Highway

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: 00:10:02

224 and forest roads 46, 57, 63, and 70.

151

: 00:10:09

The Austin Fire is above 9,000

acres at zero percent containment.

152

: 00:10:14

Evacuations also remain in effect on the

Hagen, Paradise, and McCully fires, while

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: 00:10:19

Wasco and Klamath counties eased levels on

the Grasshopper and Wrights Spring fires.

154

: 00:10:24

Governor Kotek surveyed the fires

Thursday and released National Guard

155

: 00:10:28

figures for the season: about 100

personnel across 35 days, roughly

156

: 00:10:33

390 flight hours, and about 1.4

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: 00:10:36

million gallons of water dropped.

158

: 00:10:39

Pennsylvania: The ground stop at

Philadelphia International Airport ran for

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: 00:10:43

hours Thursday, and flight tracking showed

391 delays and 254 cancellations by 9 p.m.

160

: 00:10:52

A severe thunderstorm watch

covering Berks, Lehigh, Northampton,

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: 00:10:55

Carbon, Monroe, and Chester

counties was extended to 10 p.m.,

162

: 00:10:59

and a flood watch covered the Philadelphia

metro through late Thursday night.

163

: 00:11:04

South Carolina: West Columbia issued a

boil water advisory Thursday morning after

164

: 00:11:09

a water main break on Sunset Boulevard.

165

: 00:11:11

It covers Sunset Boulevard from

: 1500

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: 00:11:17

Jones Avenue, Hammonds Hill Drive,

Sabal Drive, and Kay Koon Lane.

167

: 00:11:22

This is the second break in two days.

168

: 00:11:24

The prior advisory was lifted Wednesday.

169

: 00:11:27

Texas: The Ross Fire in Palo Pinto and

Jack counties reached at least 85,000

170

: 00:11:32

acres at 26 percent containment as of

Thursday night, making it the second

171

: 00:11:37

largest wildfire in North Texas history

behind the: 2011

172

: 00:11:43

Jack County lifted its mandatory

evacuation Wednesday, and voluntary

173

: 00:11:47

advisories remain in both counties.

174

: 00:11:50

U.S.

175

: 00:11:50

180 has reopened, and a temporary flight

restriction stays over the fire area.

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: 00:11:55

Four to five structures are

reported damaged, with catastrophic

177

: 00:11:59

damage to buildings at a

Scouting America ranch property.

178

: 00:12:02

No injuries have been reported.

179

: 00:12:05

Washington: The Little Giant Fire in

Chelan County is the largest committed

180

: 00:12:10

operation in the country at 149,863

acres and 23 percent containment,

181

: 00:12:16

with 2,076 personnel, evacuations

in effect, and 26 structures lost.

182

: 00:12:22

The Sinlahekin Fire in Okanogan County

grew about 1,200 acres to 156,699 at

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: 00:12:26

56 percent, with crowning and long

range spotting and 30 structures lost.

184

: 00:12:33

Three Queens, Grand Park 2,

Goat, and the Wonderland Complex

185

: 00:12:37

also have evacuations in effect.

186

: 00:12:40

Separately, Governor Ferguson and

the Department of Commerce stood

187

: 00:12:43

up a state donations coordination

operation Thursday for Chelan, Ferry,

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: 00:12:48

Okanogan, Spokane, Stevens, and Yakima

counties and for the Yakama Nation, the

189

: 00:12:53

Colville Tribes, and the Spokane Tribe.

190

: 00:12:55

Only new, unopened items

are being accepted, and the

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: 00:12:58

public intake channel is 211.

192

: 00:13:01

Wisconsin: Monday, August 31, is

the deadline to apply for federal

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: 00:13:06

individual assistance or a Small Business

Administration disaster loan for the

194

: 00:13:11

April 13 to 23 storms and flooding.

195

: 00:13:14

Nineteen counties and the

Oneida Nation are eligible.

196

: 00:13:17

All other states have no significant

updates in the last 24 hours.

197

: 00:13:22

Let’s run through the territories.

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: 00:13:24

Puerto Rico and the U.S.

199

: 00:13:26

Virgin Islands: There are no tropical

cyclone watches or warnings in effect.

200

: 00:13:32

The Hurricane Center’s key messages

note that heavy rain from Dolly or its

201

: 00:13:35

remnants could reach the Leeward Islands

late Saturday into Sunday, with possible

202

: 00:13:40

impacts in the Virgin Islands, Puerto

Rico, and Hispaniola Sunday and Monday.

203

: 00:13:46

Forecasters say considerable uncertainty

remains on rainfall coverage and amounts.

204

: 00:13:50

The northeastern Caribbean is in

severe to extreme drought, which

205

: 00:13:54

raises runoff risk on hardened soils.

206

: 00:13:58

On St.

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: 00:13:58

Croix, the Water and Power Authority

reported Thursday that a new leak at

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: 00:14:02

Catherine’s Rest drew down the Kingshill

storage tank and returned low or no

209

: 00:14:06

pressure to gravity fed service areas

as far down system as Frederiksted.

210

: 00:14:11

The authority is adjusting water hauler

hours to hold pump station pressure and

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: 00:14:16

is asking customers to avoid cistern

filling and other high volume draws.

212

: 00:14:21

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands:

The Weather Service in Guam advised

213

: 00:14:26

Thursday that neither Tropical Depression

20W nor Invest 91W poses a threat to

214

: 00:14:32

Guam, the Commonwealth, the Federated

States, or the Marshall Islands.

215

: 00:14:36

Both will sustain the

regional monsoon pattern.

216

: 00:14:39

Ahyi Seamount in the Northern

Marianas remains at Advisory and

217

: 00:14:42

Yellow with no signs of unrest.

218

: 00:14:45

The Small Business Administration’s

business recovery center in Susupe

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: 00:14:49

closes permanently at the end of business

today, though online applications

220

: 00:14:53

continue and the economic injury loan

,: 2027

221

: 00:15:01

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation

extended the Emergency Prescription

222

: 00:15:04

Assistance Program through September 30.

223

: 00:15:08

All other territories and the District

of Columbia have no significant

224

: 00:15:12

updates in the last 24 hours.

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: 00:15:15

That wraps today’s EM Morning Brief.

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: 00:15:17

New episodes drop Monday through

Friday in the 5:00 AM hour P.T.,

227

: 00:15:21

so the day starts with

clarity instead of catch-up.

228

: 00:15:25

Subscribe on the Emergency Management

Network on Substack, or follow

229

: 00:15:29

on your favorite podcast player.

230

: 00:15:31

EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices Podcast.

231

: 00:15:34

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Colorado

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Idaho

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New Mexico

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