Episode 179
Houston Bush Airport begins federal Ebola screening tonight; Seven Cabins Fire holds at 40 percent with Capitan Mountains evacuations active.
Wednesday’s EM Morning Brief leads with the launch of enhanced CDC and CBP Ebola screening at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport for arrivals from the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan, joining Dulles and Atlanta as the only U.S. entry points. Cedric covers today’s federal patch deadline for the actively exploited Drupal core SQL injection vulnerability (CVE-2026-9082), the lifting of all Garden Grove chemical tank evacuations after President Trump’s federal emergency declaration, the Seven Cabins Fire in the Capitan Mountains at 26,443 acres with GO status evacuations, the small Cienigita Springs fire on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, the imminent episode 48 of the Kīlauea Halemaʻumaʻu eruption, tornado warnings across eastern Kentucky overnight, and the severe weather outlook for west and southwest Texas. EM Morning Brief is your concise daily update on national and state-by-state emergency management news. Produced by Sitch Radio, an EOC Voices podcast.
Key Takeaways
• Houston IAH Ebola screening begins tonight: CBP and CDC begin enhanced screening at George Bush Intercontinental for arrivals from DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan on flights departing after 10:59 p.m. CT on May 26. IAH joins Dulles and Atlanta as the only U.S. entry points for those travelers.
• CISA Drupal patch deadline lands today: Federal civilian agencies must patch the actively exploited Drupal core SQL injection flaw CVE-2026-9082 by end of day May 27 under BOD 22-01. Affects PostgreSQL-backed Drupal sites versions 8.0 through 11.3.9.
• Garden Grove evacuations fully lifted; federal declaration in place: Orange County Fire Authority lifted the last 16,000 evacuations at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after the methyl methacrylate tank vented pressure. President Trump’s federal emergency declaration unlocks federal coordination and recovery support.
• Seven Cabins Fire (NM) holds at 40 percent: 26,443 acres, 966 personnel, GO status evacuations between mile marker 13 and Boy Scout Mountain in the Capitan Mountains. Statewide drought and wildfire emergency in effect.
• Mescalero Apache Reservation fire (NM): Small 3-acre Cienigita Springs fire with 40 personnel, 2 helicopters, and tribal dozer engaged. Public asked to avoid the area.
• Kīlauea episode 48 imminent: USGS forecasts the next lava fountaining episode at Halemaʻumaʻu within today’s or tomorrow’s window. Activity confined to the closed park area.
• Severe weather in west and southwest Texas: SPC outlook calls for large hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes today.
• Kentucky tornado warnings overnight: Brief warnings affected Powell, Morgan, Menifee, Johnson, and Elliott counties; Powell County reported downed power lines.
• NIFC at National Preparedness Level 2: Roughly 2.3 million acres burned year-to-date across approximately 29,000 fires.
Sponsors
The NIMS Store - https://thenimsstore.com/
Sources
CDC / Public Health
• CDC HAN Advisory: Ebola Disease Outbreak in the DRC and Uganda (May 19, 2026)
• CDC Health Alert Network Archive
State Department
• Worldwide Caution — Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening
• U.S. Travel Advisories (Department of State)
CISA
• CISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog (May 21, 2026)
• Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog
• CISA orders feds to patch actively exploited Drupal vulnerability (BleepingComputer)
• CVE-2026-9082: Critical Drupal Core SQL Injection Vulnerability (Tenable)
NIFC / Wildland Fire
• NIFC Incident Management Situation Report (current PDF)
USGS
• 18:24:26+00:00?utm_source=em-morning-brief" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory — Kīlauea Volcano Update, May 26, 2026
• USGS Kīlauea Volcano Updates
NOAA / NWS
• NOAA Storm Prediction Center Day 1 Convective Outlook
California
• Trump signs federal emergency declaration for Garden Grove (ABC7 Los Angeles)
• Garden Grove chemical leak background (Wikipedia)
Hawaii
• Kīlauea Volcano main page (USGS)
Kentucky
• Tornado warning issued for part of Johnson County (WSAZ)
• Tornado Warning explained — overnight Kentucky warnings recap (WSAZ)
New Mexico
• Seven Cabins Fire reaches 40 percent containment; new fire on Mescalero Reservation (KRWG)
• Seven Cabins Fire prompts evacuations for residents north of Capitan Mountains (KOB)
• Wildfire reported on Mescalero Apache Reservation (KVIA)
Texas
Transcript
Federal Public Health screening for travelers from countries affected by the Bundebuggio strain Ebola outbreak expands today.
Speaker A:Houston's George Bush Intercontinental IA8 joins Washington, Dulles and Atlanta, Hartsfield Jackson ATL as the only US entry points for passengers who have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, U.S. uganda or South Sudan within the past 21 days.
Speaker A: departing those regions after: Speaker A:The Department of State's worldwide caution remains in effect, advising Americans not to travel to drc, South Sudan or Uganda for any reason and to reconsider travel to Rwanda.
Speaker A: binding Operational Directive: Speaker A:The vulnerability affects PostgreSQL backed Drupal installations from versions 8.0 through 4.3.11 and has been the target of more than 15,000 exploitation attempts against roughly 6,000 sites worldwide since disclosure.
Speaker A:Federal civilian agencies running affected sites must patch by end of day on the wildland fireside, the National Interagency Coordination center is operating at National Preparedness Level 2 with the Southern New Mexico 7 cabins fire still the most resource intensive incident in the country at roughly 26,443 acres and 40% containment.
Speaker A:The storm Prediction center continues a severe weather outlook for parts of western and southwestern Texas with potential for large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes through this afternoon and evening, while the National Weather Service in Jackson, Kentucky issued multiple tornado warnings late Tuesday across Powell, Morgan, Menifee and Elliott counties.
Speaker A:At Kilauea in Hawaii, USGS forecasts the start of episode 48 lava fountaining between today and tomorrow as summit deflation continues.
Speaker A:Lets run through the states, California all evacuation orders tied to the Garden Grove Chemical tank incident at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems Facility were officially lifted at 7:30pm Tuesday, May 26, returning the final 16,000 displaced residents to their homes.
Speaker A:The Orange County Fire Authority states there is no remaining public risk after a controlled crack in the 22 year old tank vented pressure and eliminated the belief threat from the 6,500 to 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate inside Garden Grove Unified will reopen all schools today.
Speaker A:President Trump signed a federal emergency declaration for the affected area on the evening of May 25th.
Speaker A:Official update issued approximately 36 hours ago, unlocking direct federal coordination and assistance for ongoing response and monitoring, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports the Halemaumau eruption at Kilauea remains paused after episode 47 ended May 15.
Speaker A:A sharp summit deflation that began just after 4pm HST on May 25 pushed the forecast window for episode 48 to May 26 through 27.
Speaker A:Bright glow remains visible from both eruptive vents.
Speaker A:Overnight activity is confined to the closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes national park with no community impact at this time.
Speaker A:Kentucky the National Weather Service in Jackson issued a series of brief tornado warnings late Tuesday evening, May 26 after a cluster of central Kentucky thunderstorms developed weak rotation east of Lexington.
Speaker A:Warnings affected portions of Powell, Morgan and Menifee counties, with a separate brief warning issued near midnight for a sliver of Johnson county and a third for Elliott County.
Speaker A:Powell county reported downed power lines, the only confirmed severe weather damage reported before press time.
Speaker A:All warnings have since expired.
Speaker A:New Mexico the Seven Cabins fire in the Capitan Mountains north of Ruidoso holds at approximately 26,443 acres with 40% containment.
Speaker A:Go status Evacuations remain in effect From State Highway 246 to the ridge top of the Capitan Mountains between mile marker 13 and Boy Scout Mountain with set status north of Highway 246 along the same corridor.
Speaker A:Roughly 966 personnel are assigned, including 41 crews, 46 engines, seven helicopters, 46 water tenders and 10 dozers.
Speaker A:Separately, the Mescalero Apache Tribe is responding to a small fire at Sienajida Springs on the reservation that is approximately 3 acres creeping on the ground with 40 personnel, four type 6 engines, two type 1 helicopters and a tribal dozer engaged.
Speaker A:Heavy smoke is visible and the public is asked to avoid the area.
Speaker A:The statewide drought and wildfire Emergency declared by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on May 20th remains in effect.
Speaker A:Enhanced Ebola screening protocols begin tonight at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston with CBP routing arriving passengers who have been in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan within the past 21 days to a designated area for travel history questionnaires, temperature checks and observation for symptoms.
Speaker A: departing those regions after: Speaker A: tened given that Houston is a: Speaker A:Separately, the Storm Prediction center maintains a severe weather outlook across western and southwestern Texas through this evening with potential for large hail, damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes.
Speaker A:The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also cleared the lifting of a partial boil water notice in Laredo for the Jefferson Water Treatment Plant service area after more than 50 bacteriological samples returned negative.
Speaker A:All other states and territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
Speaker A:That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
Speaker A:New episodes drop Monday through Friday in the 5am hour PT, so the day starts with clarity instead of catch up.
Speaker A:Subscribe on the Emergency Management Network on Substack or follow on your favorite podcast player.
Speaker A:EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
Speaker A:Stay safe.
