Norte Fire, San Clemente, California (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 2

188Hectares465Acres2Days burning

Containment0%

Started on Oct 16, 2026. 100% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

38Active275Hotspots 48h566 kHectares

Last 7 days · steady

All United States wildfires

Norte Fire (California) — Sentinel-2 true color

Norte Fire (California) — 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

Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS

Active fires nearby1 · 100 km

26KM SEHenderson Fire2,079 acres · 20% contained

Within 100 kmSee on map →

Quick facts

Location: 1 miles northwest of San Clemente, CA
People working on it: 750 people
Complexity: Type 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Brush (2 feet)
How it's behaving: Active, Short-range SpottingFlanking — Grows along the sides, not head-on.
Jurisdiction: Private land

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.

Burning in Orange County, the active Norte Fire has charred 465 acres of private land 1 miles northwest from San Clemente, California since it started on October 16, 2026. Satellites are picking up 12 heat detections over the past 48 hours, indicating the current spatial spread of the incident.

Fire behavior is characterized as active, flanking, and displaying short-range spotting within 2-foot brush fuels. Managing the incident is a Type 3 Team directing 750 personnel on this Type 3 Incident, with containment currently at 0 percent and response costs reaching 999,999,999.99 USD.

This event unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, 3,388,378 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 38 percent below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in California for 1 day. So far it has affected roughly 465 acres — about 1.9 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.