Blue Lake Fire, FELLSMERE, Florida (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 3

377Hectares932Acres3Days burning

Containment90%

Started on Sep 13, 2026. 10% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

108Active910Hotspots 48h1.4 MHectares

Last 7 days · steady

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Blue Lake Fire (Florida) — Sentinel-2 true color

Blue Lake Fire (Florida) — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

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

Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS

Quick facts

Location: 5 miles west of FELLSMERE, FL
People working on it: 4 people
Complexity: Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Chaparral (6 feet)
How it's behaving: Moderate
Jurisdiction: Local 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.

Burning through six-foot-tall chaparral in Indian River County, the active Blue Lake Fire has scorched 932 acres since it began on September 13, 2026. Located five miles west of Fellsmere, Florida, the incident is currently 90 percent contained under the management of a Type 5 Incident Command and four assigned personnel, exhibiting moderate fire behavior on local lands.

Over its two days of burning, the fire has maintained an approximate average daily growth of 466 acres. Satellite observations from NASA FIRMS have detected six heat signatures in the past 48 hours surrounding the area, mapping the extent of the spread.

This event unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows 3,226,886 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 41 percent below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Florida for 2 days. So far it has affected roughly 932 acres — about 3.8 km². At 90% containment, the fire is nearly under control.

In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.