Moonshine Fire, Wheatland, Wyoming — Map & Containment: 7,325 Acres, 100% Contained

Moonshine Fire, Wheatland, Wyoming — Sentinel-2 true color

Moonshine Fire, Wheatland, Wyoming — 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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location17 miles southwest of Wheatland, WY

CauseNatural

What's burningTimber (Grass and Understory)

How it's behavingMinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

ComplexityType 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionSF · State land

Cost so far$9.3 million

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

Following a 44-day run that consumed 7,325 acres of timber, grass, and understory, the natural-caused Moonshine Fire located 17 miles southwest of Wheatland, Wyoming, in Albany County, has officially ended. Over its multi-week span, the incident averaged a growth of 166 acres per day across State land, managed under a Type 4 Incident response with 4 fire personnel involved.

By the time containment reached 100 percent, the total cost for the state-agency operation had climbed to about $9.3 million. Fire behavior toward the end of its duration was characterized as minimal and smoldering.

This event occurred against a broader national backdrop in which 3,430,104 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, tracking 37 percent below the two-decade average for a typical fire season that spans from June to October.