President Trump signs California emergency declaration for Garden Grove MMA tank; Seven Cabins Fire holds at 40% with Capitan Mountains evacuations; Houston IAH adds Ebola screening tonight

Today’s brief leads with the Presidential Emergency Declaration approved May 25 for California’s Garden Grove hazmat incident, where 50,000 residents remain evacuated around a GKN Aerospace MMA tank. Wildfire activity is concentrated in New Mexico’s Capitan Mountains with the Seven Cabins Fire at 26,443 acres and 40 percent containment, in Oregon where the new Zen Fire grew to about 1,000 acres south of Clarno, and across northwest Nevada and southeast Oregon under Fire Weather Watches. CDC’s enhanced Ebola screening expands to Houston Bush Intercontinental tonight, and CISA’s KEV catalog added two actively exploited vulnerabilities last week. Severe weather risk centers on West and Southwest Texas and central Alabama, while Kilauea’s forecast window for Episode 48 fountaining opens today. 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

• Presidential Emergency Declaration, California: Federal aid unlocked for Orange County hazmat response; explosion threat mitigated but toxic release still possible, 50,000 residents evacuated.

• Seven Cabins Fire, New Mexico: 26,443 acres, 40 percent contained, GO status evacuations in the Capitan Mountains, 966 personnel assigned.

• Zen Fire, Oregon: New, fast moving incident south of Clarno at roughly 1,000 acres and zero percent containment within hours of ignition.

• Critical fire weather, Nevada and Oregon: Fire Weather Watches in effect for northern Nevada, northeast California, and the West Humboldt Basin with single digit to low teens humidity.

• CDC enhanced Ebola screening, Houston: George Bush Intercontinental joins Dulles and Hartsfield-Jackson for travelers from DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan beginning 11:59 PM Eastern tonight.

• CISA KEV updates: Langflow (CVE 2025-34291) and Trend Micro Apex On-Premise (CVE 2026-34926) added May 21; patch and apply mitigations.

• Severe weather, West and Southwest Texas: Large hail, damaging winds, and a couple of tornadoes possible this afternoon and tonight.

• Flood Watch, central Alabama: One to two inches of rain expected with isolated three to four inch totals through 10 PM Central tonight.

• Kilauea Episode 48 window opens: Lava fountaining at Halemaumau likely today or tomorrow; volcano remains ADVISORY, aviation YELLOW.

• Alaska Delta Prevention Area: Burn permits suspended effective midnight tonight ahead of Chinook winds.

Sources

Cedric: 00:00:00

Good morning, I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for

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: 00:00:03

Tuesday, May 26, 2026, and today’s

episode is sponsored by The Nims Store.

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: 00:00:09

The day's highest impact item is in

California, where President Trump

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: 00:00:12

approved a Presidential Emergency

Declaration on May 25 for the Garden

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: 00:00:17

Grove hazardous chemical incident

at the GKN Aerospace facility.

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: 00:00:22

Roughly 50,000 Orange County residents

remain under evacuation orders connected

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: 00:00:27

to a 34,000 gallon tank holding

methyl methacrylate (MMA) that began

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: 00:00:32

to overheat and off gas last week.

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: 00:00:36

The Orange County Fire Authority

says the risk of a massive explosion

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: 00:00:39

has been mitigated, but officials

warn a toxic vapor release or

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: 00:00:44

smaller event is still possible.

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: 00:00:46

More than 785 state and local first

responders are working the scene,

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: 00:00:51

American Red Cross is staffing shelters,

and FEMA is providing direct federal

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: 00:00:55

assistance with personnel and equipment.

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: 00:00:59

On the wildfire side, the National

Interagency Fire Center has the

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: 00:01:03

country at Preparedness Level 2,

with 29,023 fires and more than 2.3

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: 00:01:09

million acres burned year to date and

18 uncontained large fires on the books.

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: 00:01:15

The Seven Cabins Fire south of

Ruidoso, New Mexico is at 26,443

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: 00:01:20

acres and 40 percent contained

with GO status evacuations between

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: 00:01:24

mile markers 13 and Boy Scout

Mountain in the Capitan Mountains.

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: 00:01:29

Oregon's new Zen Fire, five miles

south of Clarno in Wasco County,

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: 00:01:34

ballooned to roughly 1,000 acres

at zero percent containment within

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: 00:01:37

hours of ignition Monday afternoon.

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: 00:01:40

Critical fire weather conditions are

forecast across northwest Nevada and

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: 00:01:44

southeast Oregon today with single digit

humidity and gusty southwest winds.

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: 00:01:50

On the public health front, CDC's

Health Alert Network advisory

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: 00:01:54

on the Ebola disease outbreak in

the Democratic Republic of the

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Congo and Uganda remains active.

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: 00:02:00

CDC and CBP's enhanced public health

entry screening, already running at

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: 00:02:05

Washington Dulles (since May 20) and

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (since

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: 00:02:10

May 22), expands to George Bush

Intercontinental in Houston for flights

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arriving after 11:59 PM Eastern tonight.

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: 00:02:18

State Department's Worldwide

Caution was reissued May 21 with the

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: 00:02:21

screening details, and a parallel

Health Alert was posted by U.S.

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Embassy DRC on May 22 (Official

update published roughly 96 hours

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ago; included because it changes

traveler screening at a major U.S.

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hub starting tonight).

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: 00:02:37

Cyber operators should also note CISA

added two known exploited vulnerabilities

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: 00:02:41

to the KEV catalog on May 21, a Langflow

origin validation issue (CVE: 2025

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: 00:02:49

and a Trend Micro Apex On-Premise

directory traversal (CVE: 2026

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: 00:02:56

Severe weather today centers on West

and Southwest Texas, where the Storm

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: 00:03:00

Prediction Center is highlighting

large hail, damaging winds, and

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: 00:03:04

a couple of tornadoes through the

evening, with a marginal tornado threat

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extending into parts of Kentucky.

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: 00:03:10

A Flood Watch is in effect for much

of central Alabama through 10 PM

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: 00:03:13

Central tonight, with one to two

inches of rain expected and isolated

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three to four inch totals possible

over already saturated ground.

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: 00:03:23

At Kilauea, the Hawaiian Volcano

Observatory says forecast models

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: 00:03:27

indicate Episode 48 lava fountaining

is likely to begin today or tomorrow at

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: 00:03:32

Halemaumau, with the volcano still at

ADVISORY and aviation color code YELLOW.

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: 00:03:38

FAA is showing no active

ground stops or national ground

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: 00:03:41

delay programs at this hour.

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: 00:03:44

Let’s run through the states.

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: 00:03:46

Alabama, A National Weather Service

Flood Watch is in effect through

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10 PM Central tonight for much of

central Alabama, including Birmingham,

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: 00:03:53

Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Gadsden,

Selma, Clanton, Hoover, and Talladega.

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: 00:03:59

Forecasters expect one to two inches

of rain with isolated totals of three

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: 00:04:03

to four inches in repeat-track cells,

and rates above two inches per hour

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: 00:04:08

are possible in stronger storms.

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: 00:04:10

A Level 1 of 5 severe risk covers the

southwest portion of central Alabama.

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: 00:04:15

The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire

Protection suspended burn permits in

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: 00:04:19

the Delta Fire Prevention Area effective

midnight tonight in response to forecast

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: 00:04:24

Chinook wind events and elevated fire

weather through the Alaska Range passes.

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: 00:04:30

The Sawmill Creek Fire near

Delta Junction remains the

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: 00:04:33

agency's main staffed incident.

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: 00:04:35

President Trump approved California's

request for a Presidential Emergency

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: 00:04:39

Declaration tied to the Garden

Grove chemical incident on May 25.

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: 00:04:45

Roughly 50,000 residents in a nine square

mile evacuation zone remain displaced

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: 00:04:49

as Orange County Fire Authority, Cal

OES, and federal partners stabilize

70

: 00:04:54

the MMA tank at GKN Aerospace.

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: 00:04:58

Officials say the explosion threat has

been mitigated but a toxic release remains

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: 00:05:02

possible, and shelter sites staffed

by the American Red Cross remain open.

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: 00:05:07

The federal declaration

unlocks FEMA direct federal

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: 00:05:10

assistance for the response.

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: 00:05:13

The Colorado portion of the Sharpe

Fire in Baca County is reported

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: 00:05:16

fully contained, with the multi state

incident at roughly 29,209 acres and

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: 00:05:22

80 percent containment overall as

of the most recent NIFC reporting.

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Georgia, Enhanced public health entry

screening for travelers from the

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: 00:05:32

Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Uganda, and South Sudan continues at

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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International

Airport, in place since: 11:59

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Eastern on May 22 in response to the

Ebola outbreak in central Africa.

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: 00:05:47

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's

forecast window for Kilauea Episode 48

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: 00:05:52

fountaining at Halemaumau opens today,

with summit inflation and seismic signals

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: 00:05:57

suggesting onset today or tomorrow.

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: 00:06:00

The volcano remains at ADVISORY

with aviation color code YELLOW.

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: 00:06:04

Mauna Loa is NORMAL/GREEN.

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: 00:06:06

National Weather Service offices

issued Fire Weather Watches for parts

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: 00:06:10

of northern Nevada, northeastern

California, and the West Humboldt Basin

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: 00:06:14

for this afternoon and evening, with

sustained winds of 20 to 25 mph and

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: 00:06:19

minimum humidity of 10 to 15 percent.

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: 00:06:23

The Quartz Fire in Pershing County

stands at 2,448 acres and 25 percent

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: 00:06:29

containment with structures threatened.

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: 00:06:32

New Mexico, The Seven Cabins Fire

south of Ruidoso has burned 26,443

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: 00:06:38

acres at 40 percent containment,

with 966 personnel assigned.

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: 00:06:43

GO status evacuations remain in place

from State Highway 246 to the Capitan

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: 00:06:48

Mountains ridge top between mile

marker 13 and Boy Scout Mountain, and

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: 00:06:52

a SET status is in effect near Ft.

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: 00:06:54

Lone Tree and South Base Road

east of Capitan Gap Road.

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: 00:06:58

The Trigg Fire 17 miles south of Mosquero

continues to show active fire behavior

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: 00:07:02

with group torching and wind driven

runs, and residences are threatened.

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: 00:07:07

A new fire in Cienigita Springs

Canyon on the Mescalero Apache

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Reservation was reported at about 0.69

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acres Monday afternoon, with roughly

40 personnel, four engines, two

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helicopters, and a dozer assigned.

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: 00:07:22

Oregon, The new Zen Fire, ignited about

3:36 PM Monday roughly five miles south

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: 00:07:28

of Clarno on Prineville District BLM land,

grew to about 1,000 acres at zero percent

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: 00:07:33

containment in its first afternoon.

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Hot shot crews from Prineville and

Vale, engines, dozers, a helicopter,

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: 00:07:41

and air attack are on scene with

no structures threatened so far.

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: 00:07:45

Critical fire weather conditions

extend into southeastern Oregon today.

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: 00:07:49

Texas, The Storm Prediction Center is

forecasting scattered severe storms

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: 00:07:53

across West and Southwest Texas into

south central Texas this afternoon and

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: 00:07:58

tonight, with large hail, damaging winds,

and a couple of tornadoes possible.

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: 00:08:04

PowerOutage.us

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: 00:08:05

showed roughly 26,000 customers without

power across 104 Texas counties early

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: 00:08:10

this morning, a localized footprint

rather than a statewide event.

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: 00:08:16

Wisconsin, Scattered strong to severe

storms moved across an unstable airmass

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: 00:08:20

Monday evening with isolated severe

wind gusts and hail possible mainly from

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: 00:08:25

southeast Minnesota into Wisconsin, and

isolated thunderstorms remain possible

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: 00:08:30

Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.

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All other states and territories

and the District of Columbia have no

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: 00:08:37

significant updates in the last 24 hours.

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: 00:08:41

That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.

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: 00:08:43

New episodes drop Monday through

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

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: 00:08:47

so the day starts with

clarity instead of catch-up.

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: 00:08:50

Subscribe on the Emergency Management

Network on Substack, or follow

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: 00:08:54

on your favorite podcast player.

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: 00:08:56

EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices Podcast.

129

: 00:09:00

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