Started on Sep 14, 2026.
United States todayLive
True view
Fire view
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
Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS
Quick facts
- Location
- 10 miles southeast of Wichita Falls, TX
- People working on it
- 120 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- How it's behaving
- ModerateCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Torching — Whole trees flaring up like torches.
- Jurisdiction
- SFS · Private land
Glossary: what each term means
Barely moving. Low, thin smoke.
Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
Spreads with low, steady flames.
Spreading evenly and steadily, with visible flame.
Fast and unpredictable.
Runs along the ground much faster than a person walks.
Grows along the sides, not head-on.
Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
Climbs into the treetops and jumps crown to crown. It can't be attacked from the ground.
Climbs into the crowns in bursts and drops back down.
Whole trees flaring up like torches.
Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.
Whole clumps of trees flaring at once.
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.
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.
Burning across private land in Clay, Texas, the active Arrowhead Fire is situated 10 miles southeast of Wichita Falls. Over its two days of burning since starting on September 14, 2026, the incident has averaged a daily growth of approximately 398 acres per day, encompassing a total size of 795 acres. Satellites have registered three heat detections near the perimeter over the past 48 hours, while response efforts are supported by 44 personnel under a Type 4 Incident management structure led by a Type 4 IC from SFS.
Fuel conditions on the ground feature tall grass standing 2.5 feet high, fueling fire behavior characterized as active, spotting, and torching. Despite these conditions, containment has reached 97 percent.
This event unfolds within a wider context where 3,226,886 hectares have burned nationally so far in 2026, tracking 41% below the two-decade average. This activity falls squarely within the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October.
In context
This wildfire burned in Texas for 2 days. In total it burned about 795 acres — around 3.2 km².
In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.
The bigger picture in United States
Across United States, roughly 3,388,378 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 38% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
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Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
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