Started on Aug 22, 2026.
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
- 10 miles southwest of Roaring Springs, TX
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 20 people
- Complexity
- Type 5 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Chaparral (6 feet)
- How it's behaving
- Minimal, Single Tree TorchingSpotting — 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.
- 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 six-foot chaparral in Motley County, the active Rustler Fire has consumed 1,300 acres located 10 miles southwest of Roaring Springs, Texas. Driven by active fire behavior that includes isolated torching and spotting, the two-day-old incident is averaging approximately 650 acres of growth per day. Satellites have detected five heat signatures nearby over the past 48 hours, highlighting the extent of the fire's recent spread across private land.
Containment efforts have reached 60 percent as a response force of 62 personnel, operating under a Type 5 Incident management structure and a Type 5 Incident Commander from the SFS agency, works to suppress the natural-cause blaze. While the region's typical fire season spans from June to October, national figures indicate that 2,993,191 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a level that is 45 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Texas for 3 days. In total it burned about 1,834 acres — around 7.4 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 3,216,925 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 41% 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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