Rafter 4B Fire, Eldarado, Texas — Map & Containment: 2,125 Acres, 90% Contained

Rafter 4B Fire, Eldarado, Texas — Sentinel-2 true color

Rafter 4B Fire, Eldarado, Texas — 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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location8 miles southeast of Eldorado, TX

CauseHuman

What's burningBrush (2 feet)

How it's behavingMinimalCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Smoldering — 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.

JurisdictionSFS · Private 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.

The story so far

Burning across Schleicher County in Texas, the Rafter 4B Fire scorched 2,125 acres of private land featuring two-foot brush after igniting from a human cause on September 26, 2026. Located eight miles southeast of Eldorado, the Type 3 Incident was managed by SFS with a response team of 67 personnel. Over a duration of 32 days, the fire advanced at an approximate average daily growth rate of 66 acres per day.

The incident has now ended, following a period where operations brought the fire to 90 percent containment and reduced fire behavior to minimal, creeping, and smoldering conditions. The broader wildfire landscape in 2026 has seen a total of 3,457,486 hectares burned across the country, marking a figure that sits 37 percent below the two-decade average for a typical fire season that spans from June to October.