The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC), composed of wildland fire representatives from each wildland fire agency based at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), establishes Preparedness Levels throughout the calendar year to ensure suppression resource availability for emerging incidents across the country. Preparedness Levels are dictated by fuel and weather conditions, fire activity, and fire suppression resource availability throughout the country. 

The five Preparedness Levels range from the lowest (1) to the highest (5). Each Preparedness Level includes specific management actions and involves increasing levels of interagency resource commitments. As Preparedness Levels rise, so does the need for Incident Management Teams (IMTs) and suppression resources, which include wildland fire crews, engines, helicopters, airtankers and other aircraft, and specialized heavy equipment, such as bulldozers. Many of these resources and teams are federal and state employees.  

The NMAC has elevated the Preparedness Level to 5 (PL5), due to significant fire activity occurring in multiple geographical areas, an increase in incident management team mobilization, and heavy shared resources commitment to large fires nationally.

Given the continuing hot and dry weather, the increase in initial attack and large fires in the western U.S., the decision to move to PL5 depicts the complexity that fire managers are encountering to ensure that adequate firefighting resources are available for protection of life, property, and our nation’s natural resources.

This is the earliest PL5 in the past 10 years. In 2002, PL5 was set on June 21. In 2008, it was set on July 1. 

PL5 is the highest level of activity. Several geographic areas are experiencing large, complex wildland fire incidents, which have the potential to exhaust wildland firefighting resources.

All districts of the Forest are now in Extreme Fire Danger. When the fire danger is “extreme,” fires of all types start quickly and burn intensely. All fires are potentially serious and can spread very quickly and with intense burning. Small fires become big fires much faster than at the “very high” level. Spot fires are probable, with long-distance spotting likely. These fires are very difficult to fight and may become very dangerous and often last for several days.

According to National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Malheur National Forest is at severe and extreme drought conditions. These extreme conditions are causing record fire indices, including Energy Release Components (ERCs) and fuel moistures, which all contribute to extremely high fire potential.

Please use caution and follow all regulations while recreating on the forest.

For more information on National Wildfire Preparedness Levels, visit: https://www.nifc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/National_Preparedness_Levels.pdf.

Oregon drought information is available online at: https://www.drought.gov/states/oregon.