Ray Coaker Fire, Deer Park, Alabama

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

Location13 miles southwest of Deer Park, AL

What's burningBrush (2 feet)

How it's behavingMinimal

ComplexityType 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionPrivate land

Cost so far$1,500

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

Summary written on Sep 16, while the fire was still active. It has since ended — the figures above are current.

Burning across Washington County, Alabama, the Ray Coaker Fire has consumed 707 acres of private land situated 13 miles southwest of Deer Park since it started on September 10, 2026. Over six days of burning, the blaze has maintained an approximate average daily growth of 118 acres. Despite this trajectory, current fire behavior is reported as minimal within two-foot brush, allowing firefighting personnel to reach full containment on the Type 3 incident managed by a Type 3 Incident Commander. Suppression efforts for the entire operation accumulated a total cost of $1,500.

This event unfolds within a regional fire season that typically runs from June to October. On a national scale, the broader context reveals that 3,226,886 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 41 percent below the two-decade average.