Episode 174
Seven Cabins Fire balloons to 15,858 acres in New Mexico; Nebraska declares disaster as Kansas City storms peak 64,000 Evergy outages
Wind-driven wildfires dominate today’s brief, with the Sandy Fire in Ventura County, California pushing more than 43,000 residents out of Simi Valley and the Seven Cabins Fire in New Mexico growing to nearly 16,000 acres with no containment. In the Plains and Midwest, Auburn, Nebraska issues a disaster declaration after Monday’s straight-line winds and flooding, and Evergy reports a peak of about 64,000 outages across the Kansas City metro. CISA releases five new ICS advisories and continues federal remediation pressure on KEV additions affecting Cisco SD-WAN and Linux. The CDC’s Bundibugyo Ebola HAN remains active for clinician awareness. 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
• CISA ICS advisories: Five ICSA-26-139 advisories released May 19; operators of affected OT/IoT products should apply vendor mitigations.
• CISA KEV: Cisco SD-WAN (CVE-2026-20182) and Linux LPE (CVE-2026-31431) carry active federal remediation deadlines.
• California Sandy Fire: 1,698 acres at 5 percent containment with more than 43,000 Simi Valley residents under evacuation orders.
• New Mexico Seven Cabins Fire: 15,858 acres, 0 percent contained, GO-status evacuations and Capitan Mountains closures in effect.
• Minnesota Flanders Fire: 60 percent contained, evacuations lifted at noon May 19; state peacetime emergency and National Guard activation remain in effect.
• Missouri and Kansas storms: Peak of about 64,000 Evergy outages; multi-day restoration; NWS damage surveys ongoing in Ray County and Holt County.
• Nebraska disaster declaration: Auburn declared local disaster after Monday storms; NWS rates St. Libory tornado EF-3 with 160 mph winds.
• Oklahoma Panhandle fires: ODEM activated; Ballard/Stateline (about 18,000 acres, 65 percent) and Wolf Canyon (about 6,700 acres) continue under suppression.
• CDC HAN Ebola: Bundibugyo virus outbreak in DRC’s Ituri Province confirmed May 15; clinicians urged to take travel histories and report suspect cases.
• USGS volcanos: Kilauea ADVISORY/YELLOW with next episode forecast May 22 to 26; Great Sitkin WATCH/ORANGE; no tsunami threat from USVI M4.1 earthquake.
Sponsors
The NIMS Store - https://thenimsstore.com/
Sources
CISA
• CISA ICS Advisories landing page (May 19, 2026 release: ICSA-26-139-01 through 05)
• CISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability to Catalog (May 14, 2026) , CVE-2026-20182 Cisco SD-WAN
• Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog , CISA KEV master list
NIFC and InciWeb
• National Fire News , NIFC roll-up of large fires and Preparedness Level
• Incident Management Situation Report (IMSR) archive
• Seven Cabins Fire Daily Update , NM Fire Info
• Flanders Fire Information , Minnesota Incident Command System
• Hunggate Fire , InciWeb incident page
• Spread Creek Fire , InciWeb incident page
CDC
• CDC HAN 530 , Ebola disease outbreak DRC and Uganda (May 15, 2026)
• CDC HAN 529 , 2026 Hantavirus outbreak testing guidance
USGS
• Volcano Updates , USGS Volcano Hazards Program
• Kilauea Volcano Updates , Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
• Significant Earthquakes 2026 , USGS earthquake feed
NOAA and National Hurricane Center
• Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook , NHC
• SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook
California
• Sandy Fire Incident Update (May 19, 2026) , Cal Fire
• Sandy Fire forces evacuation of nearly 44,000 Simi Valley residents , KTLA
Kansas
• Severe storms roll through Kansas City , KSHB
• Evergy still restoring power after 64,000 outages , Fox4KC
Minnesota
• Flanders Fire 60 percent contained, evacuations lifted , Brainerd Dispatch
• Governor Walz declares peacetime emergency for wildfires , KARE 11
Missouri
• Storm damage, power outages, water woes across Kansas City , KCTV5
Nebraska
• City of Auburn declares disaster after severe storms , 1011 NOW
• Tornado that ripped through Howard County rated EF-3 , Rural Radio KRVN
New Mexico
• Seven Cabins Fire Daily Update May 19, 2026 , NM Fire Info
• Seven Cabins Fire update , KTSM
Oklahoma
• About 49,000 acres burn in Oklahoma Panhandle wildfires , KOSU
• ODAFF Wildfire Information page
Texas
• Hunggate Fire , InciWeb incident page
Hawaii
• Kilauea Volcano Updates , HVO
Alaska
U.S. Virgin Islands
Transcript
Good morning.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released five industrial control systems advisories on May 19, covering vulnerabilities in OT and IoT products.
Speaker A: ICSA: Speaker A:Owners and operators should review the affected product lists and apply vendor mitigations.
Speaker A:CISA also continues to flag earlier week additions to the known exploited vulnerabilities catalog, including a Cisco Catalyst SD WAN authentication bypass and a Linux local privilege escalation flaw.
Speaker A:With federal remediation deadlines now in effect, the National Interagency Fire center remains at preparedness level 2 with 16 uncontained large fires and roughly 2,000 personnel committed nationwide.
Speaker A:Official update published within the last 48 hours.
Speaker A:Year to date totals stand at 26,568 fires for more than 1.9 million acres, well above the 10 year average.
Speaker A: County, California, more than: Speaker A:The Storm Prediction center continues to highlight elevated to critical fire weather across portions of the southern High Plains amid hot drops, dry and windy conditions.
Speaker A:The CDC issued a Health Alert network advisory on May 15 about an Ebola disease outbreak, Bundubugyo virus in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths reported as of May 16.
Speaker A:Official update published within the last 48 hours.
Speaker A:US risk is assessed as low.
Speaker A:Clinicians are urged to obtain travel histories and report suspect cases to public health.
Speaker A:The CDC's earlier Han on a cruise ship, Andes hantavirus cluster remains active.
Speaker A:The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory keeps Kilauea at advisory with a yellow aviation color code.
Speaker A:Summit re inflation since episode 47 ended May 15 suggests the next lava fountaining episode between May 22 and May 26 in Alaska.
Speaker A:Great Sitkin remains at watch orange with slow lava effusion and Mount Kuprianov stays at advisory yellow.
Speaker A:The National Hurricane center reports no tropical cyclone formation expected in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific over the next seven days.
Speaker A:Let's run through the States.
Speaker A:The Sandy fire, which ignited Monday afternoon in Simi Valley, has grown to roughly 1,698 acres at 5% containment as of May 19.
Speaker A:Ventura county and Cal Fire report more than 43,000 residents under evacuation orders and additional residents under warnings.
Speaker A:One home and two vehicles have been destroyed.
Speaker A:About 869 firefighters are assigned, with additional resources continuing to arrive as crews work to take advantage of cooler overnight conditions and lighter winds.
Speaker A:Colorado Crews continue mop up on the 167 fire in Sedgwick county, now 100% contained.
Speaker A:No new evacuations are reported.
Speaker A:Florida Forest Service continues to manage three active large fires Cow Creek south of Bronson, Lochlussa west southwest of Hawthorne and 172 Avenue southeast of Florida City, each at roughly 85% containment.
Speaker A:With structures threatened.
Speaker A:Crews are focused on mop up and improving containment lines.
Speaker A:Severe storms move through eastern Kansas late Monday into early Tuesday with NWS measured gusts between 58 and 84 mph from northwest Missouri through the Kansas City metro.
Speaker A:Multiple tornado warnings were issued and roughly 13,900 Everagy customers in Johnson county with additional outages in Douglas and Shawnee counties lost power.
Speaker A:Crews are working multi day restorations in the hardest hit areas.
Speaker A:Minnesota the Flanders Fire near Breezy Point in Crow Wing county is approximately 1,666 acres and 60% contained as of the May 19 morning update.
Speaker A:Crow Wing county evacuation orders were lifted at noon on May 19th and County Road 11 has reopened between Cross Lake and State Highway 6.
Speaker A:The Stewart Trail Fire north of Two Harbors remains at 355 acres and 62% contained.
Speaker A:The peacetime emergency declared by Governor Walz and the Minnesota National Guard activation remain in effect through the response period.
Speaker A:Missouri Evergy reported a peak of roughly 64,000 outages with nearly 92,000 customers affected at some point during Monday night's severe storms.
Speaker A:Jackson, Platte and Clay counties had the largest outages and the bulk of outages by Tuesday morning were concentrated in Jackson County.
Speaker A:NWS damage survey teams are working in Ray county where tornado debris has been reported and confirmed.
Speaker A:Tornadoes were observed in the Maryville and Holt county areas.
Speaker A:Overnight restoration is expected to extend multiple days in the most damaged areas.
Speaker A:Montana the Jericho Creek Fire on the Helena, Lewis and Clark national forest stands at 1,000 acres and 0% containment.
Speaker A:Critical fire weather with breezy west winds and low humidity continues over portions of the state.
Speaker A:Nebraska the city of Auburn issued a local disaster declaration at approximately 9:30am Tuesday after Monday's severe storms produced damaging straight line winds and significant flooding.
Speaker A:Roughly 20 to 25 homes, multiple downtown commercial buildings and the Nemaha County Courthouse roof sustained damage.
Speaker A:About 2,000 customers lost power with service since restored Auburn Public Schools canceled classes Tuesday.
Speaker A:Separately, NWS Hastings rated the Sunday evening St. Libori tornado in Howard county as a high end EF3 with estimated peak winds near 160 miles per hour.
Speaker A:The Hebron tornado in Thayer county is rated EF1.
Speaker A:The Ash Pole fire in Dawes county is 1,028 acres and 90% contained.
Speaker A:New Mexico the Seven Cabins fire on the Lincoln National Forest grew to 15,858 acres with 0% containment.
Speaker A:GO status Evacuations remain in effect From State Highway 246 to the Capitan Mountain's ridge top between mile marker 13 and Boy Scout Mountain with set status Evacuations north of Highway 246 between mile marker 13 and Boy Scout Mountain, state Highway 246 and access to the Capitan Mountains are closed.
Speaker A:Approximately 691 personnel are assigned with helicopters and air tankers supporting line construction.
Speaker A: h of Clayton is approximately: Speaker A:The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management remains activated for the Panhandle wildfire response.
Speaker A:The Ballard Stateline fire in Samarin county has burned approximately 18,000 acres across Oklahoma and Colorado with about 9,900 acres in Oklahoma and stands near 65% containment.
Speaker A:The Wolf Canyon Fire in Beaver county has burned roughly 6,700 acres at about 40% containment.
Speaker A:Oklahoma Forestry Services continues to coordinate suppression with cooperators and federal partners.
Speaker A:Texas the Hungate fire near Canyon in Randall county is reported at approximately 34,124 acres with 30 to 40% containment.
Speaker A:Forward progression is stopped and evacuations have been lifted with monitoring ongoing along damaged rail infrastructure.
Speaker A:The Comanche fire east of Northfield stands at 1,991 acres and 95% containment.
Speaker A:Elevated to critical fire weather continues across the Texas Panhandle with relative humidity in the single digits and temperatures near 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Speaker A:Utah the Wild Horse Fire on the Fishlake National Forest about 30 miles southwest of Nephi remains at 7,022 acres and roughly 90% containment.
Speaker A:Wyoming the Spread Creek Fire on the Bridger Teton National Forest 29 miles northeast of Jackson remains at 257 acres and 87% containment.
Speaker A:Breezy west winds and low humidity continue to drive elevated fire weather across portions of the state.
Speaker A:All other states have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
Speaker A: earthquake at: Speaker A:No tsunami threat was issued.
Speaker A:Emergency managers report no significant damage.
Speaker A:All other territories and the district of Colombia 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 or follow on your favorite podcast player.
Speaker A:EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
Speaker A:Stay safe.
