Sheep Head Fire (CO)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 22 Miles NW from Walsenburg, CO
- Cause
- Natural
- Personnel
- 24
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Brush (2 feet)
- Behavior
- Minimal, Creeping, Smoldering
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
After burning for 17 days and expanding at an average rate of 78 acres per day, the Sheep Head Fire has reached full containment near Walsenburg, Colorado. The blaze, which scorched 1,322 acres of private brush, is now characterized by minimal activity, including creeping and smoldering behavior.
A Type 3 Incident management team oversaw the suppression efforts, which involved 24 personnel and resulted in a total cost of $740,000. The fire, which began on June 29, 2026, was determined to have been caused by natural factors.
In context
This wildfire burned in Colorado for 31 days. In total it burned about 1,322 acres — around 5.3 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 3,005,648 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 45% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
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