Started on Sep 10, 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
- 8 miles northeast of Ashland, MT
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 40 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Timber (Grass and Understory)
- How it's behaving
- Moderate
- Jurisdiction
- 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 lands eight miles northeast of Ashland, Montana, the active Beaver Creek Fire has grown to 505 acres in Powder River County since starting on September 10, 2026. Satellites have registered six heat detections over the past 48 hours, highlighting the ongoing activity of the blaze as it moves through timber featuring grass and understory. Currently exhibiting moderate fire behavior, the incident is managed by a Type 4 Incident Commander overseeing 40 personnel.
This fire occurs against the backdrop of a broader national season that typically runs from June to October. Across the country, 3,207,126 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 41% below the two-decade average.
With zero containment reported thus far, suppression operations for this Type 4 incident have accumulated $10,000 in costs. The natural-caused blaze continues to be monitored and actively managed on the ground.
In context
This wildfire burned in Montana for 1 day. In total it burned about 505 acres — around 2.0 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.
More fires in Montana
- Cora Creek FireEnded
- Big Buffalo FireEnded
- Davis Coulee FireEnded
- Black Bear FireContained
- Sand Creek FireActive
- Bobcat Lakes FireEnded