Range 39 Fire, New Augusta, Mississippi

Yesterday's image: fire shows in orange and red. NASA MODIS

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location15 miles southeast of Hattiesburg, MS

What's burningSouthern Rough

How it's behavingMinimal

ComplexityType 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionUSFS · Federal land

Cost so far$15,000

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

Having burned across 1,700 acres over an 83-day span, the Range 39 Fire near New Augusta, Perry County, Mississippi, has officially ended. When active, the incident spread at an approximate rate of 20 acres per day through Southern Rough fuel. The fire, which started on August 5, 2026, was managed by the USFS as a Type 4 Incident with 3 personnel involved, ultimately reaching 99 percent containment.

Operations on federal land incurred a cost of about $15,000. In its final stages, satellites picked up 2 heat detections over a 48-hour period, reflecting the minimal fire behavior reported as the incident wound down through the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October.

This Mississippi fire occurred within a broader national context where 3,450,833 hectares have burned so far in 2026, placing the year's burned area 37 percent below the two-decade average.