Needles Fire (South Dakota)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 2 Miles E from Evergreen Community, SD
- Cause
- Natural
- Personnel
- 103
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- Behavior
- Extreme
- Jurisdiction
- BIA · Federal land
Driven by extreme fire behavior through 2.5-foot tall grass, the active Needles Fire has burned 960 acres in South Dakota since September 4, 2026. Located two miles east of the Evergreen Community in Porcupine, Oglala Lakota County, the federal incident on Bureau of Indian Affairs land currently shows zero percent containment. Satellites are picking up 23 heat signatures nearby over the last 48 hours, highlighting the extent of the spread.
A Type 3 Incident management team consisting of 103 personnel is responding to the natural-cause fire. Operations have reached a cost of $350,000. This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows 3,177,542 hectares burned so far in 2026, tracking 42% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in South Dakota for 1 day. So far it has affected roughly 960 acres — about 3.9 km². Crews report no containment yet, so the fire can still spread.
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 3,177,542 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 42% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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