Grass Burr Fire, Paducah, Texas

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

Location2 miles north of Paducah, TX

What's burningTall Grass (2.5 feet)

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

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

Summary written on Aug 14, while the fire was still active. It has since ended — the figures above are current.

Burning through tall grass standing two and a half feet high in Cottle County, the active Grass Burr Fire is currently managed by a Type 5 Incident command with 52 personnel from the SFS. Situated two miles north of Paducah, Texas, the fire has shown minimal behavior despite its size and location on private land.

The incident has consumed 2,622 acres since it started on August 13, 2026, and has achieved 85 percent containment. Overhead, satellites are picking up 12 heat detections over the last 48 hours, illustrating the current distribution of thermal signatures near the fire perimeter.

This event unfolds during a typical fire season that runs from June to October. Regionally, the broader fire landscape shows that 2,902,022 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a total that is 47 percent below the two-decade average.