Coleman Creek Fire, Juntura, Oregon

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

Location8 miles east of Juntura, OR

CauseNatural

What's burningShort Grass (1 foot)

How it's behavingMinimal, Single Tree TorchingSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

ComplexityType 2 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionBLM · Federal land

Cost so far$13.0 million

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

Following a protracted 91-day run that consumed 308,863 acres across Harney County, Oregon, the Coleman Creek Fire near Juntura has officially ended. Burning in a regional setting where the typical fire season runs from June to October, the blaze was fueled by short grass and ultimately brought to 100 percent containment by a Type 2 Incident management team. During its lengthy course, the fire maintained an average daily growth of roughly 3,394 acres per day before subsiding.

Operations on the natural-cause fire were managed by the Bureau of Land Management on federal land, mobilizing a modest contingent of 9 personnel at the incident's conclusion as fire behavior dwindled to minimal, smoldering conditions with occasional single tree torching. The total cost to suppress the remote Oregon blaze reached about $13 million, specifically recorded at 12,954,214 USD.

Nationwide, the broader landscape reflects a less destructive year than usual despite prolonged incidents like the Coleman Creek Fire. Across the country, 3,453,410 hectares have burned so far in 2026, a figure that sits 37 percent below the two-decade average for the period.