With 18 uncontained large fires burning across the country as of May 22, 2026, more than 5,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel are currently deployed to active incidents. One Complex Incident Management Team is coordinating response efforts, and the National Preparedness Level remains at Level 2 on a 1-to-5 scale — signaling that fire activity has already outpaced early-season norms across multiple geographic areas.
National Resource Picture
The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) in Boise tracks the availability and deployment of all federal firefighting resources nationwide. At Preparedness Level 2, interagency coordination is elevated and additional resource orders — aircraft, crews, and equipment — are being filled from outside local and regional caches.
Among the resources currently deployed are Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams, hand crews, engine crews, air tankers, and helicopter resources. The one Complex IMT currently active is providing unified command support across multiple incidents or a particularly complex single incident.
Air Attack Resources in High Demand
Single-engine air tankers (SEATs), large air tankers (LATs), and very large air tankers (VLATs) have been in active use across the Southwest and California in recent weeks. The Santa Rosa Island Fire in Channel Islands National Park has required significant aerial resources given the remote, roadless terrain of the island — limiting ground-based options and making air attack the primary initial attack tool.
Aviation resources are finite nationally, and as fire activity increases heading into June and July, competition for air tankers and helicopters among geographic areas will intensify. The NICC manages national resource sharing under the principles of closest forces and mutual aid, with requests flowing through Geographic Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) including the Northwest Coordination Center in Portland and the Northern Rockies Coordination Center in Missoula.
Northwest Readiness
The Northwest Geographic Area Coordination Center (NWCC), based in Portland, Oregon, supports wildfire response across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. As the 2026 season accelerates, the NWCC has been working to ensure that Type 1 and Type 2 crews, engines, and air resources are available and ready to respond when large fires develop in the region.
The Washington State Patrol's State Fire Marshal office issued guidance in mid-May urging residents to take fire prevention seriously, noting that summer 2026 is shaping up to be a high-risk season and that small precautions can prevent large fires. Actions as simple as properly extinguishing campfires, checking trailer hitch chains, and maintaining spark arresters on equipment can prevent the kind of ignitions that quickly overwhelm local resources.
Interagency Coordination
A key strength of the U.S. wildfire response system is its interagency structure. Federal agencies — including the USFS, BLM, NPS, FWS, and BIA — work alongside state forestry departments, tribal fire programs, and local government fire departments through shared dispatch systems and mutual aid agreements. This coordination allows resources to be shifted rapidly as fire activity fluctuates across the country.
Pacific Northwest residents and local fire departments are encouraged to stay engaged with their local GACC and county emergency management offices as the season develops. Resource availability will be a critical factor in early attack success — and prevention remains the most cost-effective tool in the arsenal.