Started on Sep 20, 2026.
United States todayLive
Yesterday's image: fire shows in orange and red. NASA MODIS
Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS
Quick facts
- Location
- 1 miles east of High Island, TX
- People working on it
- 15 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
- Active
- Jurisdiction
- USFWS · 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 through tall grass averaging 2.5 feet in height, the active Mud Bayou Fire near High Island, Texas, has scorched 10,550 acres in Chambers County while exhibiting active fire behavior under a Type 4 Incident management structure led by the USFWS. Federal land ownership is involved, and current suppression efforts are supported by 15 personnel as containment reaches 80 percent, with total costs mounting to $150,000 since the fire started on September 20, 2026.
Satellites are picking up 40 heat signatures clustered nearby in the last 48 hours, illustrating the current footprint of the blaze located one mile east of High Island. This incident occurs within a region where the typical fire season spans from June to October, unfolding during a broader national year in which 3,258,477 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure 41% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Texas for 1 day. In total it burned about 10,550 acres — around 43 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 3,259,929 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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