Deer Creek Fire, Marion, Montana (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 47

445Hectares1,099Acres47Days burning

Containment96%

Started on Aug 20, 2026. 4% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

66Active340Hotspots 48h868 kHectares

Last 7 days · steady

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Deer Creek Fire (Montana) — Sentinel-2 true color

Deer Creek Fire (Montana) — 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

Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS

Quick facts

Location: 18 miles west of Marion, MT
Cause: Human
People working on it: 53 people
Complexity: Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Heavy Logging Slash
How it's behaving: Minimal, Single Tree TorchingSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Creeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
Jurisdiction: Private land

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.

Burning for 12 days through heavy logging slash on private land, the Deer Creek Fire near Marion, Montana, has maintained an average daily growth of approximately 92 acres per day, totaling 1,099 acres. Fire behavior is currently characterized as minimal, smoldering, creeping, and single tree torching, handled by a Type 4 Incident Command structure with 77 personnel.

Originating from a human cause on August 20, 2026, in Lincoln County, 18 miles west of Marion, the active fire has reached 96 percent containment with suppression costs totaling $4,200,000.

This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season which spans from June to October. On a broader scale, 3,161,746 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, tracking 42 percent below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Montana for 46 days. So far it has affected roughly 1,099 acres — about 4.4 km². At 96% containment, the fire is nearly under control.

In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.