Butte Fire, San Carlos, Arizona — Map & Containment: 670 Acres, 100% Contained

Butte Fire, San Carlos, Arizona — Sentinel-2 true color

Butte Fire, San Carlos, Arizona — 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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location20 miles southwest of San Carlos, AZ

CauseNatural

What's burningTall Grass (2.5 feet)

How it's behavingMinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Backing — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.

ComplexityType 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionBIA · Federal land

Cost so far$40,000

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.

The story so far

Spanning an exceptionally long 86-day run that stretched from August 3, 2026, through the region's typical fire season of June to October, the Butte Fire burned 670 acres of federal land in Gila County, Arizona. Located 20 miles southwest of San Carlos, the natural-cause wildfire averaged 8 acres per day of growth before ultimately reaching full containment and coming to an end. Fire behavior toward the latter stages was characterized as minimal, smoldering, and backing through 2.5-foot tall grass.

Managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a Type 5 Incident, suppression operations for the Butte Fire accumulated a total cost of about $40,000. While this single blaze impacted local terrain near San Carlos, the broader national landscape saw 3,459,197 hectares burned so far in 2026, tracking 37% below the country's two-decade average.