As the 2026 wildfire season intensifies across the West, the national firefighting workforce is operating at near-capacity, with 9,333 personnel currently assigned to active incidents across the country. The strain on the system is particularly significant for the Pacific Northwest, where interagency teams and resources that would normally be available for local fires have been deployed to large incidents in Utah, Colorado, and other southern states — leaving the region with reduced initial attack capacity just as its own fire season peaks.

National Resource Deployment as of July 2

According to the July 2 NIFC Incident Management Situation Report, the national fire organization has deployed:

  • 9,333 total personnel on active incidents
  • 173 hand crews — the elite, 20-person teams that construct fire lines by hand in steep and remote terrain
  • 506 engines
  • 87 helicopters
  • 11 Complex Incident Management Teams (CIMTs)

NIFC noted that inactive geographic areas, including parts of the Northwest, are reaching or approaching drawdown levels. Drawdown is the threshold at which a geographic area no longer has sufficient resources to meet expected demand — meaning that new fires starting in the region may face delayed or reduced initial attack response as resources are requested from increasingly distant locations.

Pacific Northwest Resources Deployed South

The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (NWCC) has been exporting resources to support large fires in Utah and Colorado, including the Cottonwood Fire, Babylon Fire, and Aspen Acres Fire. Northwest crews, including Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams, hand crews, and engine task forces, have been dispatched under the national resource sharing system that allows the interagency fire organization to move resources across geographic boundaries.

While resource sharing is a core feature of the national system and is necessary to manage the largest fires, it creates tension as the Northwest's own fire season heats up. Fire managers must continually balance the obligation to assist sister agencies against the need to maintain adequate local capability.

Aviation Assets and Airtanker Availability

Aviation resources are among the most constrained nationally. The USDA Forest Service's fleet of large airtankers and single-engine air tankers (SEATs) is in high demand across multiple geographic areas simultaneously. The Northwest Coordination Center is managing aviation availability carefully, with priority given to fires posing the greatest threat to life and critical infrastructure. Pilots and aircraft maintenance crews are also subject to mandatory rest requirements that limit operational tempo.

What PNW Residents Should Know

The resource situation underscores why prevention is more critical than ever this year. Every human-caused fire that can be prevented is one less demand on a system already under stress. Residents should understand that in the current environment, response to a new fire may take longer than in previous years. Maintaining defensible space, having an evacuation go-bag ready, and knowing your community's evacuation levels could be life-saving.

Track national resource deployment through NIFC's daily situation reports at nifc.gov/nicc-files/sitreprt.pdf. Northwest Coordination Center morning briefings are posted at nwcc.nifc.gov.