3 Alpha Sierra Fire, Weston, Florida

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

Location5 miles west of Weston, FL

What's burningTall Grass (2.5 feet)

How it's behavingMinimal

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

JurisdictionDVF · State land

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

Following a 26-day burn that expanded at an approximate rate of 30 acres per day, the 3 Alpha Sierra Fire near Weston, Florida, in Broward County has ended. The incident, which started on September 27, 2026, consumed 774 acres of tall grass standing about 2.5 feet high on state land. By the conclusion of the event, full containment was achieved at 100 percent.

Operations were managed by the DVF agency, utilizing a modest team of 11 personnel for this Type 5 incident. Fire behavior was ultimately characterized as minimal before the situation was fully resolved.

Broader conditions across the country in 2026 show 3,442,406 hectares burned so far, tracking 37 percent below the two-decade average for a typical fire season that generally runs from June to October.