Mill Creek Fire, Coalgate, Oklahoma

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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location4 miles north of Stringtown, OK

CauseHuman

What's burningTimber (Litter and Understory)

How it's behavingMinimal

ComplexityType 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionPrivate land

Cost so far$9,384

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.

The story so far

Summary written on Aug 14, while the fire was still active. It has since ended — the figures above are current.

Burning across private land in Atoka County, the human-caused Mill Creek Fire four miles north of Stringtown, Oklahoma, has reached 100 percent containment after a four-day run that saw it expand at an average daily growth of approximately 55 acres per day, ultimately blackening 218 acres of timber, litter, and understory. Managing the incident involved a Type 5 complexity response staffed by five personnel operating under a Type 4 Incident Commander, bringing total suppression costs to $9,384 while fire behavior was reduced to minimal levels.

This Oklahoma incident unfolds during a regional fire season that typically runs from June to October. Nationally, the wildfire activity occurs within a broader landscape where 2,902,022 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 47% below the two-decade average.