Arkansas Fire Evacuations Near Camden and a Growing Frijoles Fire — September 15, 2026

Two fires dominated Monday night and Tuesday morning: a wildfire in south Arkansas that pushed people out of their homes, and a long-burning New Mexico fire that is finally getting some help from the weather. On the policy side, a new study put a number on what happened when U.S. embassies stopped publishing air-quality data.

Evacuations and heavy smoke near Camden, Arkansas

A wildfire that started Monday in Calhoun County, Arkansas led to an evacuation order just after 8 p.m., Arkansas Online reports. The sheriff's office told residents north of Arkansas Highway 278, from Calhoun Road 10 to Calhoun Road 95, to leave immediately. Arkansas 203 and 274 were closed to everyone but emergency personnel.

SAU Tech evacuated its campus as smoke moved in, sending on-campus students to the Camden Fairview gymnasium. The city of Camden posted around 8 p.m. that smoke from the fire had covered the town, and warned it might get heavier overnight.

When smoke settles over a town like that, closing windows and running whatever air filtration you have is a reasonable step until it clears.

Frijoles Fire grows, but rain is on the way

New Mexico's Frijoles Fire has reached 15,956 acres and remains 79% contained, the Albuquerque Journal reports. The lightning-caused fire, discovered on Aug. 4 in the Pecos Wilderness, grew by about 410 acres since Friday, with flames active on its northeastern edge near Sierra Mosca.

Forest Service officials say the fire does not currently threaten people or property, and that showers forecast through Friday should slow its growth. Morning humidity in the fire area has climbed from a parched 10% on Friday to near 100% this week. The team assigned to the fire has shrunk from nearly 1,000 people in August to 49.

North Texas stays hot, dry and fire-prone

Heat and dry conditions are keeping fire danger elevated across North Texas, FOX 4 reports. Tuesday's forecast high of 101 degrees in the Metroplex threatens to tie or break a local record, with southerly winds gusting to 20 mph. Firefighters are working the Hydra Fire in Bosque County, which is 5% contained; a grass fire in Brock was contained quickly.

A cold front is expected late Sunday into Monday, bringing a 20% rain chance and cooler temperatures. Until then, officials are urging caution with outdoor activities.

Pollution rose after embassy monitors went dark

When the U.S. shut down its embassy air-monitoring program in March 2025, pollution levels in the affected countries rose 24 to 33% over the following months, according to research published Monday in the journal PNAS and covered by NPR.

The program began with a single monitor on the Beijing embassy in 2008 and grew to more than 80 embassies and consulates. Environmental economist Eric Zou, who grew up in Shanghai, told NPR that public data changed how people understood the air around them: "Once you have pollution information, it tends to be that it actually helps people to realize, 'Oh I actually value air quality.'" The State Department did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

EPA moves to drop power plant emission limits

The EPA plans to abandon greenhouse gas restrictions on coal and oil power plants, Gizmodo reports. The agency advanced two measures: one repealing a Biden-era rule requiring plants to eliminate most climate emissions by 2039 or close, and one rescinding the EPA's own authority to regulate those emissions under the Clean Air Act.

In a statement to the New York Times, the agency said U.S. power plant emissions "have no material impact on global climate change." The Times noted that the U.S. power sector, measured on its own, would rank as the fifth-largest climate polluter in the world.

L.A. County had no recovery plan after the 2025 fires

A new review found Los Angeles County lacked the plans and procedures it needed to start recovery after the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires, the Los Angeles Times reports. The report, the second after-action review ordered by the Board of Supervisors, covered the first three months after the firestorm and found county staff relied on "institutional knowledge rather than in a formal plan."

The review credited employees and partners for carrying the recovery "under extraordinary pressure and on compressed timelines," while noting the county still has no updated operational area recovery plan and no formal repopulation framework.

Sources

• Calhoun County wildfire forces evacuations near Camden — Arkansas Online
• Frijoles Fire reaches 15,956 acres as rain may slow growth — Albuquerque Journal
• Triple-digit heatwave and wildfire risks grip North Texas ahead of late-weekend cold front — FOX 4 News
• Air pollution spiked after the Trump administration stopped embassy monitoring — NPR
• EPA to Power Plants: Flood the Air With As Much Coal and Oil Smog As You Like — Gizmodo
• L.A. County lacked plan, processes for wildfire recovery, report finds — Los Angeles Times

Canairy aggregates publicly reported air-quality and wildfire news and summarizes it in plain English, with links to the original sources. This is educational information, not medical or emergency advice. In a wildfire or air-quality emergency, follow guidance from local authorities.