Ayers Pond Fire (Montana)
Started on Sep 3, 2026.
United States todayLive
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 25 Miles SE from Terry, MT
- Complex
- Rattlesnake Complex
- Cause
- Natural
- Personnel
- 9
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Timber (Grass and Understory)
- Behavior
- Moderate, Single Tree Torching
- Jurisdiction
- BLM · Federal land
Burning through timber with grass and understory in Prairie County, the Ayers Pond Fire near Terry, Montana, has reached full containment after four days of activity. Sparked by a natural cause on September 3, 2026, the incident advanced at an approximate daily growth rate of 148 acres per day, ultimately reaching 593 acres. Fire behavior was characterized as moderate with single tree torching.
Suppression efforts for the Type 3 Incident involved nine personnel under the management of a Type 3 Team, with operations overseen by the Bureau of Land Management on federal land. Total costs to contain the fire reached $13,000.
This event unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Across the country, 3,185,593 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that sits 42% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Montana for 6 days. So far it has affected roughly 593 acres — about 2.4 km². The perimeter is 100% contained.
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 3,195,047 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 42% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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