Started on Aug 23, 2026. 29% of the perimeter still to contain.
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
Quick facts
- Location
- 7 miles north of Marblemount, WA
- People working on it
- 51 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 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.Backing — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.Smoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
- 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 495 acres of federal timber and understory near Marblemount, Washington, the active Electric Fire has now been on the landscape for 23 days since its start on August 23, 2026. Managed by a Type 3 Team with 51 personnel, the incident has accumulated a cost of $2,759,711 while achieving 71 percent containment. The fire behavior is currently characterized as minimal, creeping, backing, and smoldering.
This Whatcom County incident unfolds within a broader national context where 3,216,925 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 41 percent below the country's two-decade average. The region's typical fire season runs from June to October, placing the current USFS-managed response squarely within the peak historical window for wildfire activity in the area.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Washington for 23 days. So far it has affected roughly 495 acres — about 2.0 km². About 71% of the perimeter is contained — over half is secured, though hotspots remain.
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 3,216,925 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 41% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Reports from people near the fire · unverified
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