Round Prarie Fire, Bastrop, Louisiana (2026)

This fire in numbersDay 3

299Hectares739Acres3Days burning

Containment60%

Started on Sep 20, 2026. 40% of the perimeter still to contain.

United States todayLive

81Active476Hotspots 48h1.3 MHectares

Last 7 days · steady

All United States wildfires

Round Prarie Fire (Louisiana) — NASA satellite

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

Red dots: heat detected by satellite in the last 48h. NASA FIRMS

Active fires nearby1 · 100 km

97KM NWBunker Fire2,849 acres · 90% contained

Within 100 kmSee on map →

Quick facts

Location: 8 miles northwest of Bastrop, LA
People working on it: 11 people
Complexity: Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
What's burning: Southern Rough
How it's behaving: ActiveShort Crown Runs — Climbs into the crowns in bursts and drops back down.
Jurisdiction: 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.

Burning through southern rough on private land, the active Round Prarie Fire has scorched 739 acres in Morehouse County, located eight miles northwest of Bastrop, Louisiana. Fire activity is marked by short crown runs, though responders have achieved 60 percent containment on the incident since it started on September 20, 2026. Satellites are picking up three heat detections in the past 48 hours, signaling the current extent of the thermal footprint as the fire burns.

A Type 5 Incident managed by a Type 5 Incident Commander, the response involves a small crew of 11 personnel working to suppress the blaze, with total suppression costs reaching $5,800. The broader seasonal landscape shows 3,259,929 hectares burned so far in 2026, tracking 41 percent below the two-decade average for the country during a typical fire season that runs from June to October.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Louisiana for 2 days. So far it has affected roughly 739 acres — about 3.0 km². About 60% of the perimeter is contained — over half is secured, though hotspots remain.

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