Shoshone Fire, Fallon, Nevada — Map & Containment

Shoshone Fire, Fallon, Nevada — Sentinel-2 true color

Shoshone Fire, Fallon, Nevada — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

True view Fire view

⟷

True view (left): as the eye sees it.
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

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location58 miles northeast of Fallon, NV

CauseNatural

What's burningShort Grass (1 foot)

How it's behavingMinimalCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Backing — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.

ComplexityType 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionBLM · Federal land

Cost so far$2.0 million

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.

The story so far

Burning across federal land in Churchill County, Nevada, the Shoshone Fire was located 58 miles northeast from Fallon. Sparked naturally on August 15, 2026, the incident burned for 88 days through short grass averaging one foot in height. Over the course of its run, the fire grew at an approximate rate of 279 acres per day, ultimately encompassing 24,513 acres.

Fire suppression efforts were managed by a Type 3 Incident team with 52 personnel operating under the Bureau of Land Management. The incident reached a containment level of 92 percent before concluding, with the total cost of the operation reaching about $2 million.

The fire occurred during the region's typical fire season, which spans from June to October. Nationally, the broader context of 2026 has seen 3,511,067 hectares burned so far, a figure that remains 36 percent below the two-decade average.