Plaskett Fire, Big Sur, California (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 49

12,138Hectares29,993Acres49Days burning

Containment100%

Started on Aug 26, 2026.

United States todayLive

49Active216Hotspots 48h734 kHectares

Last 7 days · steady

All United States wildfires

Plaskett Fire (California) — Sentinel-2 true color

Plaskett 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

44KM NWTimber Fire25,350 acres · 97% contained

Within 100 kmSee on map →

Quick facts

Location: 34 miles southwest of Big Sur, CA
People working on it: 344 people
Complexity: Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Chaparral (6 feet)
How it's behaving: MinimalCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Backing — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.Smoldering — 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 29,993 acres of federal land managed by the USFS in Monterey County, California, the Plaskett Fire has reached full containment after a grueling 35-day run that averaged roughly 857 acres of growth per day. Located 34 miles southwest of Big Sur, the incident was driven by six-foot chaparral fuels and managed under a Complex Incident Management Team as a Type 4 Incident, eventually accumulating 344 personnel and a total cost of $74,440,000.

Fire behavior on the incident has settled into minimal, creeping, backing, and smoldering activity. Throughout the broader landscape, this event unfolds during a typical fire season that spans from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows that 3,304,390 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 40% below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in California for 48 days. So far it has affected roughly 29,993 acres — about 121 km². The perimeter is 100% contained.

In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.