Started on Aug 6, 2026.
United States todayLive
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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
Active fires nearby3 · 100 km
Quick facts
- Location
- 8 miles northwest of Colstrip, MT
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 69 people
- Complexity
- Type 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Timber (Grass and Understory)
- How it's behaving
- Moderate, Uphill RunsSpotting — 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.
- Jurisdiction
- DNRC · State 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 through timber with grass and understory, the active Slough Grass Fire has grown to 6,467 acres since it started on August 6, 2026, in Rosebud County, Montana. Located eight miles northwest of Colstrip, the blaze is exhibiting moderate fire behavior with uphill runs and spotting, while 69 personnel operating under a Type 3 Incident Command manage the state-owned land overseen by the DNRC. Satellites have registered 34 heat detections in the past 48 hours, illustrating the current spread of the fire across the landscape.
The incident carries a cost of $150,000 and has reached 10 percent containment. Across the country, the broader fire landscape shows 2,664,784 hectares burned so far in 2026, a figure that sits 51 percent below the two-decade average. This activity occurs within the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October, as crews continue suppression efforts on the natural-cause fire.
In context
This wildfire burned in Montana for 3 days. In total it burned about 5,465 acres — around 22 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 3,266,178 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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