Potato Creek Fire, Kyle, South Dakota

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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location13 miles northeast of Kyle, SD

CauseNatural

What's burningShort Grass (1 foot)

How it's behavingMinimal, Single Tree TorchingSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

ComplexityType 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionBIA · Federal land

Cost so far$500,000

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.

The story so far

The Potato Creek Fire in Jackson County, South Dakota, burned a total of 10,944 acres over a protracted 90-day span before finally coming to an end. Located 13 miles northeast of Kyle, the natural-cause fire advanced at an approximate average daily growth of 122 acres per day through short grass standing about one foot tall. Throughout its long duration, the incident was managed as a Type 3 Incident by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on federal land, eventually drawing 32 personnel to the effort.

By the time crews fully contained the incident at 100 percent, the fire behavior had diminished to minimal, smoldering conditions with occasional single tree torching. The total cost to suppress the remote South Dakota blaze reached about $500,000. While this single fire concluded, the broader national landscape shows a total of 3,450,653 hectares burned so far in 2026, tracking 37 percent below the two-decade average during a typical fire season that stretches from June to October.