Ptarmigan Fire, Washington (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 97

10,346Hectares25,566Acres97Days burning

Containment90%

Started on Jul 17, 2026. 10% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

38Active1,096Hotspots 48h512 kHectares

Last 7 days · falling

All United States wildfires

Ptarmigan Fire (Washington) — Sentinel-2 true color

Ptarmigan Fire (Washington) — 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 nearby4 · 100 km

30KM NWDaynar Creek Fire655 ha 31KM WHozomeen Mountain Fire6,277 ha 31KM WBorder 2 Fire9,108 acres · 74% contained 35KM NWBig Burn Creek Fire899 ha

Within 100 kmSee on map →

Quick facts

Location: 20 miles northwest of Mazama, WA
Cause: Natural
People working on it: 2 people
Complexity: Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Timber (Litter and Understory)
How it's behaving: ActiveCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Smoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Torching — Whole trees flaring up like torches.
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 federal timber and understory land within Okanogan County, Washington, the active Ptarmigan Fire is located 20 miles northwest of Mazama. After 85 days on the landscape since its natural ignition on July 17, 2026, the fire has maintained an average daily growth of approximately 301 acres per day, accumulating a total footprint of 25,566 acres while reaching 90 percent containment under the management of a Type 5 Incident command with two personnel.

Fire behavior on the incident currently includes active, creeping, smoldering, and torching phases. Orbiting satellites are actively monitoring the situation, registering four heat detections near the perimeter over the past 48 hours to indicate the current extent of the spread.

Operations on the Ptarmigan Fire, overseen by the USFS, have accumulated a total cost of $8,243,000. This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October, amid a broader national landscape where 3,362,441 hectares have burned so far in 2026, tracking 39 percent below the two-decade average.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Washington for 96 days. So far it has affected roughly 25,566 acres — about 103 km². At 90% containment, the fire is nearly under control.

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