Parker Lake Fire, Bonners Ferry, Idaho (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 23

620Hectares1,531Acres23Days burning

Containment0%

Started on Aug 23, 2026. 100% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

101Active209Hotspots 48h1.4 MHectares

Last 7 days · steady

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Parker Lake Fire (Idaho) — Sentinel-2 true color

Parker Lake Fire (Idaho) — 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 nearby3 · 100 km

6.5KM NUpper Smith Fire4,848 acres · 41% contained 27KM SSilver Fire2,593 acres · 30% contained 83KM NTower Creek Fire1,327 ha

Within 100 kmSee on map →

Quick facts

Location: 9 miles west of Copeland, ID
Cause: Natural
Complexity: Type 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Timber (Grass and Understory)
How it's behaving: MinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
Jurisdiction: USFS · Federal 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 across the federal timberlands of Boundary County, Idaho, the active Parker Lake Fire is located nine miles west of Copeland and is managed by a Type 3 Incident Command team under the USFS. Having burned for 13 days since its natural start on August 23, 2026, the wildfire has grown by an average of approximately 118 acres per day to reach a total size of 1,531 acres. Despite zero containment, current fire behavior is characterized as minimal, featuring backing, creeping, and smoldering through timber, grass, and understory fuels.

Operations to manage the blaze have accumulated $375,257 in costs. This incident occurs within a broader regional context where the typical fire season spans from June to October. Nationally, the 2026 fire season has seen 3,178,795 hectares burned so far, tracking 42 percent below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Idaho for 22 days. So far it has affected roughly 1,531 acres — about 6.2 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.