Hwy 541 Fire, Puckett, Mississippi

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

Location5 miles southeast of Puckett, MS

CauseHuman

What's burningTimber (Grass and Understory)

How it's behavingExtreme

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

JurisdictionPrivate land

Cost so far$72,000

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

Burning through timber with grass and understory on private land, the human-caused Hwy 541 Fire near Puckett, Mississippi, in Simpson County, has reached 240 acres in size over eight days of activity, averaging about 30 acres of growth per day. Despite exhibiting extreme fire behavior fueled by timber, the Type 5 incident managed by a Type 5 Incident Commander 5 miles southeast of Puckett has achieved full containment, with 100 percent of the perimeter secured since it started on November 6, 2026, at a cost of about $72,000.

The local incident unfolds amid a broader national fire landscape in 2026, where 3,540,413 hectares have burned so far, tracking 35 percent below the two-decade average. This activity occurs outside the region's typical fire season, which conventionally runs from June to October.