Started on Aug 15, 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
- 58 miles northeast of Fallon, NV
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 52 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
- MinimalCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Backing — Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.
- Jurisdiction
- BLM · Federal 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 federal land in Churchill County, Nevada, the Shoshone Fire has steadily expanded over nine days of active behavior, averaging an estimated 2,724 acres per day to reach a total footprint of 24,513 acres. Located 58 miles northeast of Fallon, the incident is currently managed by a Type 4 Incident Commander directing 52 personnel under a Type 3 Incident designation. Satellites are picking up three heat detections over the past 48 hours, highlighting the ongoing spread across the landscape.
Despite its vast size, current fire behavior on the Shoshone Fire is characterized as minimal, creeping, and backing within short grass fuels standing about one foot tall. Suppression efforts led by the Bureau of Land Management have driven containment up to 92 percent, keeping total costs at $2,000,000 for the naturally caused blaze that started on August 15, 2026.
This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows 2,993,191 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that sits 45 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Nevada for 10 days. In total it burned about 24,513 acres — around 99 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 3,304,390 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 40% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
We'll email you if it grows, if it gets more contained, or if it goes out.
At most one alert every 6 hours, and only when something changes.
No account. One-click unsubscribe. · Privacy
Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
Be the first to report what is happening →
Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
More fires in Nevada
- Mcconnell FireActive
- Calico FireEnded
- New Pass FireContained
- Hawk FireEnded
- Oxley FireEnded
- Stallion FireEnded