Green Mountain Fire, Prineville, Oregon

True view Fire view

⟷

True view (left): as the eye sees it.
Fire view (right): infrared (SWIR), sees through smoke and brings out the heat.

🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 brown = already burned
🟠 orange = fire right now

Drag to compare: normal photo on the left, heat brought out on the right.

Green: vegetationBrown: already burnedOrange: fire right nowSentinel-2 · Copernicus

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location11 miles north of Prineville, OR

ComplexRowe Creek Complex

CauseNatural

What's burningTimber (Litter and Understory)

How it's behavingExtremeTorching — Whole trees flaring up like torches.Running — Runs along the ground much faster than a person walks.

ComplexityType 1 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionUSFS · Federal land

Cost so far$155,700

Glossary: what each term means

Minimal

Barely moving. Low, thin smoke.

Smoldering

Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

Creeping

Moves slowly, hugging the ground.

Moderate

Spreads with low, steady flames.

Active

Spreading evenly and steadily, with visible flame.

Extreme

Fast and unpredictable.

Running

Runs along the ground much faster than a person walks.

Flanking

Grows along the sides, not head-on.

Backing

Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.

Crowning

Climbs into the treetops and jumps crown to crown. It can't be attacked from the ground.

Short Crown Runs

Climbs into the crowns in bursts and drops back down.

Torching

Whole trees flaring up like torches.

Isolated Torching

Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.

Group Torching

Whole clumps of trees flaring at once.

Spotting

Wind carries embers through the air and starts new fires ahead of the front: that is how a fire jumps a road or a firebreak.

Wind Driven Runs

The wind pushes it in long runs in one direction.

The ones marked ● are the behaviors that make a fire harder to stop. They are not a warning or an instruction: they are the description written by the agency in charge. For decisions, always follow your emergency services.

The story so far

Burning across timber, litter, and understory on federal land managed by the USFS, the Green Mountain Fire ultimately burned 2,136 acres over a span of 90 days near Prineville, Oregon, in Crook County. Located 11 miles north of Prineville, the natural-cause wildfire exhibited extreme behavior, including torching and running, while averaging an approximate daily growth of 24 acres.

Led by a Type 1 Incident complexity and managed by 114 personnel, the operation successfully brought the fire to 100 percent containment before it ended. The final cost to manage the incident reached about $156,000, specifically totaling 155,700 USD.

This incident occurred within the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader wildfire context for 2026 shows that 3,442,406 hectares have burned so far, tracking 37 percent below the two-decade average.