Started on Sep 7, 2026.
United States todayLive
True view
Fire view
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
Quick facts
- Location
- 4 miles northeast of Eldorado, TX
- People working on it
- 31 people
- Complexity
- Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- How it's behaving
- ActiveFlanking — Grows along the sides, not head-on.
- Jurisdiction
- SFS · Private land
Glossary: what each term means
Barely moving. Low, thin smoke.
Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
Spreads with low, steady flames.
Spreading evenly and steadily, with visible flame.
Fast and unpredictable.
Runs along the ground much faster than a person walks.
Grows along the sides, not head-on.
Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
Climbs into the treetops and jumps crown to crown. It can't be attacked from the ground.
Climbs into the crowns in bursts and drops back down.
Whole trees flaring up like torches.
Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.
Whole clumps of trees flaring at once.
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.
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 through tall grass measuring 2.5 feet in height, the active Red Gate Fire has consumed 499 acres in Schleicher County, Texas, located four miles northeast of Eldorado. Satellites are picking up a moderate heat signature with three detections over the past 48 hours, highlighting the extent of the spread across private land as the blaze exhibits active, flanking behavior.
A Type 5 Incident managed by a Type 5 Incident Commander, the fire is currently 90 percent contained with 31 personnel assigned to the operation by the SFS. Having started on September 7, 2026, the incident unfolds within a typical regional fire season that spans from June to October.
This event occurs during a broader national fire year in which 3,186,142 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a total that sits 42 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Texas for 1 day. In total it burned about 499 acres — around 2.0 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 3,323,241 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 39% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
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Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
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