Merit Creek Fire, Mississippi (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 2

335Hectares828Acres2Days burning

Containment75%

Started on Sep 23, 2026. 25% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

83Active537Hotspots 48h1.2 MHectares

Last 7 days · steady

All United States wildfires

Merit Creek Fire (Mississippi) — Sentinel-2 true color

Merit Creek Fire (Mississippi) — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

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

Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS

Quick facts

Location: 4 miles south of McLain, MS
Cause: Natural
People working on it: 17 people
Complexity: Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Southern Rough
How it's behaving: ActiveBacking — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
Jurisdiction: USFS · Federal land

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.

Burning across federal land in Greene County, Mississippi, the active Merit Creek Fire has consumed 828 acres of southern rough fuel since it was sparked by a natural cause on September 23, 2026. Located four miles south of McLain, the fire has achieved 75 percent containment despite its active and backing behavior. Operations are currently overseen by a Type 4 Incident Management team, with 17 personnel assigned to the incident and total costs reaching $50,000 under the direction of the USFS.

This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. On a broader national scale, the fire activity occurs within a year that has seen 3,270,726 hectares burn across the country so far in 2026, a figure that remains 40 percent below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Mississippi for 1 day. So far it has affected roughly 828 acres — about 3.4 km². About 75% of the perimeter is contained — over half is secured, though hotspots remain.

In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.