Started on Sep 7, 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
- 1 miles north of Spearfish, SD
- Cause
- Human
- People working on it
- 35 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 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.Creeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
- Jurisdiction
- Local 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 timber, grass, and understory on local lands, the Lookout Fire near Spearfish, South Dakota, has burned an average of 63 acres per day over seven days to reach 444 acres. The fire behavior is characterized as minimal, smoldering, backing, and creeping, reflecting a human-caused blaze that started on September 7, 2026. This incident is managed by a Type 5 Incident Commander under a Type 3 Incident designation, utilizing 35 personnel to achieve full containment at 100 percent.
Operations for this Lawrence County fire accumulated a total cost of $1,152,361. The regional fire season typically spans from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows 3,216,670 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a total that is 41 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in South Dakota for 20 days. In total it burned about 444 acres — around 1.8 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 3,323,241 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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