Six Mile Fire, Socorro, New Mexico

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

Location12 miles southeast of Magdalena, NM

What's burningBrush (2 feet)

How it's behavingMinimal, Single Tree TorchingSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

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

JurisdictionUSFS · Federal land

Cost so far$3.8 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

After burning across 341 acres of 2-foot brush on federal land managed by the USFS, the Six Mile Fire near Socorro, New Mexico, has officially ended. Located 12 miles southeast of Magdalena in Socorro County, the Type 3 incident burned for 168 days following its start on May 8, 2026, averaging about 2 acres of daily growth.

During the course of the response, firefighting efforts involved a crew of 5 personnel to manage the incident, ultimately bringing the fire behavior down to minimal, smoldering, and single tree torching conditions before achieving full containment and termination. Total costs to suppress the fire reached about $3.8 million, specifically recorded at 3,847,475 USD.

This incident occurred against a broader national backdrop where 3,455,585 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, a figure that sits 37% below the two-decade average. The fire's duration spanned well outside the region's typical fire season, which traditionally runs from June to October.