Hat Fire, Oregon — Map & Containment

Hat Fire (Oregon) — Sentinel-2 true color

Hat Fire (Oregon) — 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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location40 miles east of Burns, OR

CauseNatural

What's burningShort Grass (1 foot)

How it's behavingMinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Creeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Flanking — Grows along the sides, not head-on.

ComplexityType 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionBLM · Federal land

Cost so far$2.8 million

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 13, while the fire was still active. It has since ended — the figures above are current.

Burning through short grass standing about a foot tall on federal land managed by the BLM, the Hat Fire in Malheur County, Oregon, has spent twenty days actively shaping the landscape 40 miles east of Burns. Averaging an expansive growth rate of approximately 2,106 acres per day, the natural-cause blaze ultimately consumed 42,122 acres before reaching full containment. Despite the substantial footprint of this Type 3 incident, current fire behavior on the ground is minimal, characterized by smoldering, creeping, and flanking activity.

Operations to secure the perimeter involved eight personnel under a Type 3 IC management structure, accumulating a total cost of $2,800,000. With the incident now fully contained, the local effort concludes within a broader national landscape that has seen 2,893,377 hectares burn so far in 2026—marking a figure 47% below the two-decade average for the country, where the typical fire season spans from June to October.