Started on Aug 12, 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
- 12 miles southeast of Kim, CO
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 2 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- How it's behaving
- MinimalIsolated Torching — Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.
- Jurisdiction
- 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 across Las Animas County, Colorado, the Sheep Pen Fire has completed a six-day run that added an average of 119 acres per day, ultimately reaching a total size of 712 acres on private land located 12 miles southeast of Kim. Satellites have mapped the perimeter of this blaze as it traveled through short grass standing one foot tall, driven by natural causes in a region where the typical fire season spans from June to October.
Operations on the incident reached full containment with the deployment of just two personnel working under a Type 3 Incident management structure and a Type 3 IC. Current fire behavior is characterized as minimal with isolated torching, marking a stabilization of the incident after days of active spread.
This Colorado event unfolds against a broader national backdrop where 2,921,034 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, a total tracking 47% below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Colorado for 7 days. In total it burned about 712 acres — around 2.9 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 3,285,106 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 40% 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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