Started on Jul 17, 2026.
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
Active fires nearby3 · 100 km
Quick facts
- Location
- 19 miles east of Lowell, ID
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 1 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Timber (Litter and Understory)
- How it's behaving
- MinimalCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
- 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 across federal timber land in Idaho County, the Cascade Fire has spent 85 days actively shaping the landscape 19 miles east of Lowell. Driven by timber, litter, and understory, the natural-cause fire has averaged an approximate daily growth of 88 acres per day over its lifespan, ultimately reaching a total footprint of 7,475 acres. Current fire behavior is minimal and creeping.
Suppression efforts for this Type 4 Incident have been managed by a single personnel under a Type 4 Incident Commander on behalf of the USFS, bringing the accumulated cost to $180,000. These containment operations have successfully brought the Cascade Fire to 100 percent containment and a fully contained status.
This fire occurs against the backdrop of a broader national season that typically runs from June to October. Across the country, 3,362,441 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 39 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Idaho for 89 days. So far it has affected roughly 7,475 acres — about 30 km². The perimeter is 100% contained.
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 3,372,253 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.
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