Started on Jul 17, 2026.
United States todayLive
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Fire view
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
Quick facts
- Location
- 4 miles southwest of RICHLAND, OR
- People working on it
- 4 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- How it's behaving
- Minimal, Short-range SpottingSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
Glossary: what each term means
Barely moving. Low, thin smoke.
Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
Spreads with low, steady flames.
Spreading evenly and steadily, with visible flame.
Fast and unpredictable.
Runs along the ground much faster than a person walks.
Grows along the sides, not head-on.
Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
Climbs into the treetops and jumps crown to crown. It can't be attacked from the ground.
Climbs into the crowns in bursts and drops back down.
Whole trees flaring up like torches.
Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.
Whole clumps of trees flaring at once.
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.
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 Baker County, Oregon, the Powder River Fire near Richland has charred 21,088 acres of private land after a relentless 29-day march that averaged approximately 727 acres per day since its July 17 start. The blaze currently exhibits minimal, smoldering behavior with short-range spotting in short grass standing about one foot tall.
Suppression efforts have successfully brought the fire to 100 percent containment, managed locally by a Type 4 Incident Commander and a sparse crew of just four personnel. Total costs to combat the incident have reached $8,300,000.
This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which spans from June to October. On a broader scale, 2026 has seen 2,902,022 hectares burned across the country so far, tracking 47 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Oregon for 67 days. In total it burned about 21,088 acres — around 85 km².
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 3,379,469 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 38% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
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Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
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