Dos Pistolas Fire, Falfurrias, Texas

True view Fire view

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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

Location15 miles southwest of Falfurrias, TX

What's burningTall Grass (2.5 feet)

How it's behavingModerateTorching — Whole trees flaring up like torches.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.

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

JurisdictionSFS · 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.

The story so far

The Dos Pistolas Fire in Brooks County, Texas, burned for 89 days after starting on August 11, 2026, before finally ending. Located 15 miles southwest of Falfurrias, the fire consumed 1,000 acres of private land featuring tall grass standing 2.5 feet high, averaging approximately 11 acres of growth per day. During its campaign, the incident exhibited moderate fire behavior alongside torching and spotting.

Operations to suppress the fire reached 95 percent containment, managed by a Type 5 Incident team consisting of 23 personnel from the SFS agency. Across the broader national landscape in 2026, 3,501,295 hectares had burned by the time this incident concluded, tracking 36 percent below the two-decade average for a typical fire season that spans from June to October.