Started on Jul 16, 2026.
United States todayLive
True view
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
- 25 miles east of Pendleton, OR
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 4 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Timber (Grass and Understory)
- How it's behaving
- MinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Backing — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
- 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 federal timber and grass understory within Umatilla County, the Horse Ridge Fire near Pendleton, Oregon, has now spent 62 days on the landscape, averaging an approximate growth of 14 acres per day to reach a total footprint of 860 acres. The Type 4 incident is managed by four personnel under a Type 4 IC representing the USFS. Despite the prolonged duration, current fire behavior is characterized as minimal, smoldering, and backing.
Firefighting efforts on this naturally caused incident have accumulated a total cost of $2,678,959. Operations have successfully brought the blaze to 100 percent containment, bringing a definitive halt to its spread.
Contextually, this fire occurs during the region's typical fire season, which spans from June to October. Nationally, the broader picture shows 3,226,886 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 41 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Oregon for 75 days. In total it burned about 860 acres — around 3.5 km².
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 3,372,253 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 38% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
We'll email you if it grows, if it gets more contained, or if it goes out.
At most one alert every 6 hours, and only when something changes.
No account. One-click unsubscribe. · Privacy
Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
Be the first to report what is happening →
Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
More fires in Oregon
- Big Grass FireEnded
- Bench FireActive
- Shingle FireEnded
- Fielder Mtn FireEnded
- Bald Mountain FireEnded
- Fox FireEnded