Proffitt Lake Fire (Kansas)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 12 Miles SE from Fowler, KS
- Cause
- Natural
- Personnel
- 23
- Complexity
- Type 4 Incident
- Fuel
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- Behavior
- Minimal
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
Expanding at an average rate of 285 acres per day over the last 63 days, the Proffitt Lake Fire has consumed 17,968 acres of private land 12 miles southeast of Fowler, Kansas. Despite the prolonged duration of this Type 4 incident in Meade County, current fire behavior remains minimal as crews manage the blaze.
First reported on May 14, 2026, the fire was ignited by natural causes and is currently being addressed by 23 personnel. With containment at zero percent, the operation has incurred costs totaling $300,000 while burning through short grass fuel.
In context
This wildfire burned in Kansas for 89 days. In total it burned about 17,968 acres — around 73 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 3,126,257 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 43% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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