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
Key facts
Source: NIFCGlossary: 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.
The story so far
Burning across private timber land in Buchanan County, Virginia, the Hunts Fork Fire has reached containment five days after starting on November 9, 2026. Located about 2 miles southwest of Paw Paw near Hurley, the incident grew at an approximate rate of 63 acres per day before firefighters successfully halted its spread, bringing the final footprint to 313 acres.
Fire behavior at the scene is currently minimal, fueled by timber, litter, and understory. Operations were managed by a Type 4 Incident Command with a small crew of 16 personnel tackling the blaze at a total cost of about $5,000 (4,500 USD).
This Virginia incident occurs against the backdrop of the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Across the country, 2026 has seen a relatively lower impact so far, with 3,540,413 hectares burned to date—marking a 35% decrease compared to the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Virginia for 5 days. So far it has affected roughly 313 acres — about 1.3 km². The perimeter is 100% contained.
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 3,540,413 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 35% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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