Little Knife Fire (MN)

Active · 6,000 acres · started 2026-07-15 · updated 2026-07-15

True color Fire (SWIR)

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True color (left): as the eye sees it.
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.

🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire

Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.

Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).

Burning for over a week since its July 15 ignition, the Little Knife Fire in Lake County, Minnesota, has expanded to cover 6,000 acres of federal land. Satellite data from NASA FIRMS confirms the intensity of the incident, recording 232 heat detections within the last 48 hours that underscore the fire's ongoing, active status.

The United States Forest Service (USFS) continues to manage the response to the blaze as it persists across the regional landscape. Fire crews remain engaged in suppression efforts to contain the fire's spread within the affected federal territory.