Started on Sep 11, 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
- 20 miles southwest of Summer Lake, OR
- People working on it
- 60 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- How it's behaving
- MinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.Creeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.
- 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 2,185 acres of private land in Lake County, Oregon, the Sycan Fire has maintained an average daily growth of approximately 546 acres per day over four days since its start on September 11, 2026. Located 20 miles southwest of Summer Lake, the active fire is currently managed by a Type 4 Incident Commander leading 60 personnel, with a containment level reaching 90 percent.
Current fire behavior on the scene is characterized as minimal, smoldering, and creeping through tall grass standing 2.5 feet high. The incident carries a Type 4 complexity rating and has accumulated an estimated cost of $1,000,000.
This incident unfolds within a broader national context where 3,216,925 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, marking a figure 41 percent below the two-decade average. Locally, the activity aligns with the region's typical fire season, which traditionally spans from June to October.
In context
This wildfire burned in Oregon for 5 days. In total it burned about 2,185 acres — around 8.8 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 3,366,046 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 39% 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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