Great Basin Fire

Today is shaping up to be an active wildfire day across parts of California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and Colorado! A storm system moving into Northern California and the Great Basin will bring an increased risk of dry thunderstorms and a high fire risk. Scattered to numerous thunderstorms are expected to develop from Northern California into Nevada and portions of the Intermountain West later this morning, continuing into the afternoon and evening hours. While some storms may produce brief rainfall, many will be high-based with limited precipitation reaching the ground. Lightning strikes outside of heavier rain cores could spark new wildfire starts, especially after several days of warm, dry weather. Gusty and erratic outflow winds near thunderstorms may also cause existing fires to spread rapidly. Also, strengthening southwest winds across the Great Basin, Southwest and central and southern Rockies will combine with very dry air and critically dry fuels. Relative humidity values as low as 10-15% and sustained winds of 15-20 mph with higher gusts will create a high to very high fire weather risk during the afternoon and evening hours. Please know your zone and NEVER LEAVE YOUR PETS BEHIND🔥

Fire activity is picking up quickly.

The National Preparedness Level increased to 3 (PL3) today, June 18, 2026, as significant wildland fire activity continues across multiple geographic areas and the potential for additional large fires remains elevated in the days ahead.

While current resource capability remains sufficient to sustain incident operations, geographic areas are increasingly utilizing national support to accomplish incident management objectives. The increase reflects growing demand for firefighting resources and heightened fire potential across several regions of the country.

🔥More National Fire News: https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn



Photo by Kyle Miller on the South Fork Fire in Nebraska.

Could be interesting this week.

Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches from the Pacific Northwest to the Great Plains today.

The weekly drought monitor.

Here is our June 2026 fire potential. This looks so much different than what they predicted a month ago. Going to be interesting.

Here is our May 2026 fire potential outlook.

Off to the Highway 82 fire in Waycross Georgia, have an amazing run E311

Here is our drought monitor for this week, I haven’t seen it this bad in awhile.

Hello to everyone that was in our S212 Chainsaw Class, we are planning on the cutting portion May 2nd and 3rd up in Argyle Canyon about 2 hours from Salt Lake, if you need more information please call me. This will be weather pending also. You do not have to be there both days.