Elephant Fire (California)

Contained · 100% contained · 13,930 acres · started 2026-07-11 · updated 2026-08-10

Elephant Fire (California) — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

True color Fire (SWIR)

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True color (left): as the eye sees it.
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.

🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire

Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.

Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).

Quick facts

Location: 2 Miles NE from LOYALTON, CA
Personnel: 9
Complexity: Type 5 Incident
Fuel: Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
Behavior: Minimal, Creeping, Isolated Torching
Jurisdiction: Private land

Burning across private land in Plumas County, California, the Elephant Fire has scorched 13,930 acres over 30 days near Loyalton, maintaining an approximate average daily growth of 464 acres per day. The incident, managed by a Type 5 Incident Command with nine personnel, is currently fully contained at 100 percent.

Current fire behavior is reported as minimal, creeping, and showing isolated torching within tall grass fuels standing about 2.5 feet high. Total costs to manage the incident have reached $9,500,000.

This activity occurs against a broader backdrop for the country in 2026, where 2,761,076 hectares have burned so far—running 50 percent below the two-decade average during a typical fire season that spans from June to October.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in California for 46 days. So far it has affected roughly 13,930 acres — about 56 km². The perimeter is 100% contained.

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