Started on Aug 12, 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
Active fires nearby1 · 100 km
Quick facts
- Location
- 6 miles west of GARDEN VALLEY, ID
- Cause
- Human
- People working on it
- 123 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- How it's behaving
- Moderate, Uphill RunsBacking — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
- Jurisdiction
- BLM · Federal 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 federal land under the management of the Bureau of Land Management, the active Mm81 Hwy55 Fire is located six miles west of Garden Valley in Boise County, Idaho. Having already consumed 330 acres since its start on August 12, 2026, the human-caused fire has averaged a daily growth of approximately 165 acres over its two days of burning, with satellites picking up four heat detections in the past 48 hours to map its nearby spread.
Fire behavior is currently characterized as moderate with backing and uphill runs through one-foot short grass fuel. Zero containment has been achieved so far as 123 personnel respond to the incident, operating under a Type 3 Incident Commander as a Type 4 incident with suppression costs reaching $600,000.
This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows that 2,902,022 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 47% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Idaho for 2 days. In total it burned about 330 acres — around 1.3 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 3,226,886 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.
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