Live US wildfire, smoke & air-quality map
Active fires, satellite heat detections, and smoke — from the interagency system of record and NASA/NOAA feeds, each figure stamped with its own source and time.
What the grey areas on the map are
The soft grey plumes are wildfire smoke, from NOAA's Hazard Mapping System (HMS) — a once-a-day satellite analysis of where smoke is in the sky. It is smoke aloft, in the atmospheric column — not a ground-level reading: a grey area can sit overhead while the air you breathe stays clear, or vice versa. The plume is dated — hover or tap it on the map to see the analysis date.
To see smoke on its own, use the wildfire smoke map. For what you're actually breathing at the surface, check ground-level PM2.5 and AQI on the air quality map.
- What are the grey areas on the map?
- They are NOAA HMS wildfire-smoke plumes — a dated, once-daily satellite analysis of smoke in the atmosphere, not necessarily at ground level. See the smoke map for smoke alone, or the air quality map for ground-level AQI.
Recently started fires
The newest active wildfires on the interagency feed, most recently started first — each links to its full record.
| Fire | State | Size | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brushy Canyon | UT | 2,000 acres (8 km²) | today |
| Chalk Mountain | WY | 100 acres (0 km²) | today |
| Calico | NV | 10,000 acres (40 km²) | today |
| Plaskett | CA | 100 acres (0 km²) | today |
| Bear Gulch | MT | 10 acres (0 km²) | 1 day ago |
| Mcconnell | NV | 5,000 acres (20 km²) | 1 day ago |
| Yellow Square | TX | 253 acres (1 km²) | 1 day ago |
| River | OK | 105 acres (0 km²) | 1 day ago |
| Adams | TX | 161 acres (1 km²) | 1 day ago |
| Maloney Ridge | WA | 0.5 acres (0 km²) | 1 day ago |
Largest active fires
| Fire | State | Size | Contained | Discovered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Grass | OR | 578,637 acres (2,342 km²) | 93 % | 2026-07-2334 days active |
| Crosswhite | OR | 342,923 acres (1,388 km²) | 91 % | 2026-07-1642 days active |
| Coleman Creek | OR | 308,863 acres (1,250 km²) | 99 % | 2026-07-2533 days active |
| Tartar | ID | 158,027 acres (640 km²) | 98 % | 2026-07-2433 days active |
| Sinlahekin | WA | 156,699 acres (634 km²) | 56 % | 2026-07-2631 days active |
| Little Giant | WA | 149,863 acres (606 km²) | 23 % | 2026-07-1642 days active |
| Kaiser Canyon | WA | 138,293 acres (560 km²) | 98 % | 2026-07-1642 days active |
| Widemouth 2 | UT | 129,741 acres (525 km²) | 93 % | 2026-07-2730 days active |
Source: NIFC WFIGS — retrieved Aug 2026 · data as of 2026-08-27 12:47 UTC
Today, 3 of the 8 largest active fires are in Oregon. Together the top 8 account for about 42% of all active-fire acreage (a computed share). A fire can top this list even at 100% contained: it stays on the active feed until it ages out, and is never marked “extinguished” — why a contained fire stays on the map.
By state
- California77 active
- Utah19 active
- Oregon93 active
- Colorado14 active
- Washington62 active
- Idaho43 active
- Montana51 active
- Arizona12 active
- New Mexico25 active
- Wyoming9 active
- Alaska6 active
- Texas6 active
- Minnesota14 active
Source: NIFC WFIGS — retrieved Aug 2026 — active wildfire incidents per state.
Right now, Oregon has the most active wildfires (93), ahead of California (77).
Explore the full wildfire picture
Every map and guide on the site — from live smoke and air quality to the 2026 season and the historical record:
- Wildfire smoke map — NOAA satellite smoke analysis and NASA fire detections, live.
- Air quality map — Ground-level PM2.5 and AQI from EPA AirNow, near you.
- Wildfire season 2026 — The year's largest fires on a map, plus live season counts.
- Wildfire statistics — US fires and acres burned, 1983–2025, from NIFC/NICC.
- Smoke forecast — Whether smoke will clear — AirNow's next-day AQI outlook.
- Wildfire smoke health — What wildfire PM2.5 does, reviewed by an MPharm.
- Air purifier for wildfire smoke — Sizing a purifier by CADR for a smoky room.
- Corsi-Rosenthal box — The DIY box-fan filter, with computed CADR.
Looking for a single state? Jump to any state fire map in the By state grid above.
This live wildfire map shows the large wildfires burning across the United States right now, drawn from the interagency system of record and NASA/NOAA satellite feeds. Each fire is a real incident carrying its own source and timestamp — pan, zoom, or find your area on the map above, then read the current numbers below.
How this wildfire map works
The map layers four independent government feeds, and each is labeled for exactly what it is — no feed is dressed up as more than it measures.
- Active fires (WFIGS). Incident points and, for a subset, mapped perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center — the interagency system of record. A fire with no published perimeter shows as a point, never a guessed shape.
- Satellite heat detections (FIRMS). NASA satellites flag thermal anomalies within about a minute of passing overhead. A detection is a hot spot — not a confirmed fire, and not a photograph. A “live satellite fire map” here means heat detections, never imagery.
- Smoke (HMS). NOAA analysts trace smoke plumes once a day from satellite imagery — overhead column smoke, not a ground-level reading. It has its own smoke map.
- Air quality (AirNow). Ground-monitor AQI lives on the air quality map, where preliminary readings are shown with their agency credit.
Reading today’s map
As of 2026-08-27 12:47 UTC, the feed shows 629 active wildfires together covering roughly 4,638,794 acres (18,773 km²). The largest is Big Grass in OR, at 578,637 acres (2,342 km²) and 93 % contained. Satellites logged 2,578 heat detections across the US in the last 24 hours — thermal anomalies, not confirmed fires. By size, 11 are 100,000 acres or larger and 434 are under 1,000. Each figure is stamped with when its agency last reported.
What you can do with it
- See where the fire is today. The map and the largest-active-fires table answer it at a glance — nationally, or zoomed to your region.
- Check current fires near you. Allow location and the map centers on you; or open your state’s fire map for a closer read of one state.
- Get a satellite view. The FIRMS layer is the closest thing to live — heat detections refreshed each satellite pass, always labeled as detections.
- See if your area is smoky. Cross to the smoke map and the air quality map.
No app to install — it works in any browser, on any device.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the fire today?
- The live map and the largest-active-fires table at the top of this page show every large wildfire currently on the national feed. Zoom to your region, or read the by-state counts, to see what is burning right now.
- How do I see current fires near me today?
- Allow location access and the map recenters on you; the near-me view is served by your browser’s location, so there is no separate page to find. For a steady view of one state, open its fire map.
- Is a “live satellite fire map” actual satellite imagery?
- No. The satellite layer is NASA FIRMS heat detections — thermal anomalies a satellite flagged as it passed over — not photographs and not confirmed fires. It is the fastest signal available, but a detection can be a flare, a hot roof, or agricultural burning as well as a wildfire.
- Is there a wildfire tracker app?
- You don’t need one — this map is a fast, full tracker that runs in any browser on phone or desktop, with nothing to download.
- How current is the map?
- WFIGS incidents update continuously, FIRMS detections land within about a minute of a satellite pass, and HMS smoke is a once-daily analyst product. The “data as of” time beside each figure tells you exactly how fresh it is.
- Why does a fully-contained fire still show on the map?
- A fire stays on the active feed until it ages out under the agencies’ fall-off rules; only then does it become historical. Because containment and fall-off are separate, a 100%-contained fire can still appear — even top the largest-fires list — until it drops off. It is never marked “extinguished.”
Where the data comes from
Every number on this page traces to a primary government feed — WFIGS (NIFC), FIRMS (NASA), HMS (NOAA), and AirNow (EPA) — with the exact source and “data as of” time shown beside it. Missing data is shown as missing, never zero or inferred; computed totals such as active-fire acreage are labeled as sums, not year-to-date figures.
The full source list, licenses, and a live feed-health strip are on the data sources & methodology page. To follow running season totals, see wildfire season 2026.
Source: NIFC WFIGS — retrieved Aug 2026 · data as of 2026-08-27 12:47 UTC
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Reviewed by Marko Visic, BSc Physics, MPharm.