Started on Aug 2, 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
- 4 miles north of Carter, MT
- People working on it
- 7 people
- Complexity
- Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- How it's behaving
- Moderate, Uphill RunsBacking — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
- Jurisdiction
- 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 through tall grass measuring 2.5 feet in height, the active Middle Coulee Fire has expanded to 1,200 acres located four miles north of Carter, Montana, within Chouteau County. Satellites have detected eight heat signatures over the last 48 hours, highlighting the ongoing spread of the incident across private land. With zero percent containment achieved so far, the fire exhibits moderate behavior characterized by backing and uphill runs.
A small team of seven personnel, operating under a Type 5 Incident management structure with a Type 5 Incident Commander, is currently assigned to suppress the blaze, which has accumulated costs of $10,000 since it started on August 2, 2026. This incident occurs during the region's typical fire season, which spans from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows 2,528,284 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a figure 54% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Montana for 2 days. In total it burned about 1,200 acres — around 4.9 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 3,243,965 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 41% 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.
More fires in Montana
- Snow FireContained
- Davis Coulee FireActive
- Beaver Creek FireEnded
- Griffin FireEnded
- Deer Creek FireEnded
- Tongue FireActive