Started on Aug 8, 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
- 4 miles northwest of Cold Springs, NV
- Cause
- Human
- People working on it
- 15 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- How it's behaving
- MinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Isolated Torching — Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.
- 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 for 16 days across Lassen County, California, the active Bug Fire has expanded at an approximate rate of 5,858 acres per day to reach 93,733 acres located four miles northwest of Cold Springs, Nevada. Despite this significant trajectory, current fire behavior is characterized as minimal, smoldering, and showing only isolated torching within short grass fuels standing one foot tall on private land. Satellites have registered 40 heat detections nearby over the last 48 hours, illustrating the broad footprint of the incident.
Containment efforts led by a Type 3 Incident Commander and managed by 27 personnel have successfully brought the incident to 97 percent containment, with costs accumulating to $23,007,007. The human-caused fire started on August 8, 2026, during the region's typical fire season which runs from June to October. This event unfolds within a broader national context where 2,993,191 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, tracking 45 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in California for 20 days. In total it burned about 93,733 acres — around 379 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 3,270,726 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 40% 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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