For the first time in years, the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC) has held the National Preparedness Level (NPL) at Level 5 — the maximum — continuously through August and into September 2026. At NPL 5, the federal wildland fire management system is operating at absolute capacity, with essentially all Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams (IMTs), hotshot crews, smokejumpers, air tankers, and heavy equipment deployed or committed.

What National Preparedness Level 5 Means

The National Preparedness Level is set by NMAC — representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — to signal how strained national fire resources are.

  • Level 1: Resources widely available; local and geographic area resources sufficient
  • Level 2: Geographic area resources are committed; some national coordination needed
  • Level 3: National resources are being drawn upon; some scarcity developing
  • Level 4: Most national resources committed; prioritization required
  • Level 5: All available national resources committed. New large fire starts receive resources only by pulling from lower-priority assignments elsewhere.

What It Looks Like on the Ground

When the system is at Level 5, resource ordering timelines stretch significantly. A fire incident commander requesting a Type 1 Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) may wait days rather than hours for assignment. Air tanker and helicopter availability is similarly constrained. Fire managers must make difficult triage decisions about where to commit scarce resources based on threats to life, critical infrastructure, and the potential for rapid growth.

The Pacific Northwest Geographic Area Coordination Center (NWCC), based in Boise, has been navigating these constraints throughout the season, managing resource requests across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho while coordinating with the national system for outside resources.

International Resources

In seasons of extreme national demand, the U.S. routinely activates international assistance agreements. Australian and New Zealand crews — known for their expertise in fire behavior and incident management — have been deployed to the Pacific Northwest in previous extreme seasons. Canada's Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and the U.S. maintain bilateral resource-sharing agreements that have been activated during peak demand.

Personnel Fatigue and Wellbeing

Extended deployments at maximum preparedness levels take a serious toll on wildland firefighters. Crews can be deployed for 14-day assignments and cycled back through demobilization before being reassigned to a new incident. After the loss of a firefighter on the Austin Fire in Mount Hood National Forest — announced September 11 — the entire wildland fire community is reminded of the sacrifice these men and women make every season.

The National Wildland Firefighter Foundation and agency health and safety programs provide support for personnel dealing with physical exhaustion and mental health challenges during and after the fire season.

Federal Wildfire Budget

The U.S. wildfire management system is operating on a fiscal year 2026 budget of approximately $6.55 billion across USDA and DOI programs, according to the Department of the Interior. The FY2026 budget maintained a permanent pay increase for wildland firefighters enacted in March 2025 — a milestone aimed at improving retention in an increasingly demanding profession. Supplemental appropriations may be considered by Congress as suppression costs continue to mount through one of the most expensive fire seasons in history.