Started on Sep 22, 2026.
United States todayLive
Yesterday's image: fire shows in orange and red. NASA MODIS
Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS
Quick facts
- Location
- Coleman County
- Cause
- Natural
- Complexity
- Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- How it's behaving
- Moderate
- Jurisdiction
- SFS · Private 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 in Coleman, Texas, the active Lightning Creek Fire has reached 300 acres while achieving 80 percent containment under a Type 5 Incident management by SFS. Sparked naturally on September 22, 2026, the fire is fueled by one-foot short grass and currently exhibits moderate fire behavior.
This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October, amid a broader national landscape where 3,270,726 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 40 percent below the two-decade average.
The fire burns entirely on private land, where suppression efforts continue to secure the remaining uncontained perimeters of the blaze.
In context
This wildfire burned in Texas for 1 day. In total it burned about 300 acres — around 1.2 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 3,366,046 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 39% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
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Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
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