SACRAMENTO, the United States, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States has raised its national wildfire readiness to Preparedness Level 4 -- one step below the maximum level of 5 -- as 54 large wildfires remained uncontained nationwide.
Preparedness Level 4 took effect at 7:30 a.m. local time (1330 GMT) Monday, the first June Level 4 designation since 2021, said the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) and Boise State Public Radio.
The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) said in Tuesday's situation report that 8,261 personnel were assigned to 73 active incidents. The NIFC's national fire news bulletin also forecasts southwest wind gusts of 40 to 72 km per hour and relative humidity of 3 to 15 percent across the Greater Four Corners into the central High Plains.
The U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday identified the three wildland firefighters killed Saturday in a burn-over incident near the Colorado-Utah border and Colorado Governor Jared Polis ordered state flags flown at half-staff, Colorado Public Radio reported.
The firefighters were assigned to the Rifle Helitack crew and engaged in initial attack operations on the Knowles Fire when the incident occurred.
The Knowles Fire has been overtaken by the Snyder Fire, which grew to about 122 square km with zero containment, according to the NICC.
The Babylon Fire in the Manti-La Sal National Forest in San Juan County, Utah, which measured about 1.2 square km in Sunday's NICC situation report, had grown to about 155 square km with zero containment and four structures destroyed as of Tuesday, the NICC said.
The U.S. Forest Service closed the Dark Canyon Wilderness and portions of Bears Ears National Monument. The National Park Service (NPS) temporarily closed The Needles district of Canyonlands National Park and ordered visitors to evacuate, saying the fire was in Bears Ears National Monument and was not burning inside the park.
According to the NICC, the Cottonwood Fire in Utah's Fishlake National Forest -- the largest active wildfire in the country at roughly 380 square km -- was 4 percent contained, while the Iron Fire near Eureka was 95 percent contained.
In Colorado, the Ferris Fire in the San Juan National Forest, about 11 km east of Cahone, reached about 69 square km with zero containment, and evacuations, area, road and trail closures were in effect, the NICC said.
The Gold Mountain Fire near Ouray reached about 29 square km with zero containment, with what the NICC described as extreme fire behavior, and evacuation orders in effect.
According to the NICC's Tuesday report, 35,884 fires have burned roughly 12,700 square km nationwide in 2026 -- 159 percent of the 10-year average for burned area, with the fire count reaching 133 percent of the average. ■
