Started on Jul 31, 2026. 28% of the perimeter still to contain.
United States todayLive
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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
- 12 miles east of Wisdom, MT
- People working on it
- 2 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 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
- MinimalBacking — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.Creeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Smoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
- Jurisdiction
- USFS · Federal 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 for 46 days across 10,896 acres of federal timber and grass understory, the active Bobcat Lakes Fire continues to smolder 12 miles east of Wisdom, Montana in Beaverhead County. Satellites in the last 48 hours have picked up a single heat detection near the perimeter, reflecting the current minimal, creeping, and backing behavior managed by the USFS with a Type 3 Incident command structure consisting of two personnel. Since its start on July 31, 2026, the fire has maintained an approximate average daily growth of 237 acres.
Suppression efforts for this incident have reached a cost of $15,824,715 as crews work toward full containment, which currently stands at 72 percent. This fire is occurring within the region's typical fire season, which spans from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows that 3,216,925 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure 41% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Montana for 48 days. So far it has affected roughly 10,896 acres — about 44 km². About 72% of the perimeter is contained — over half is secured, though hotspots remain.
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 3,243,965 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 41% 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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