THORN Fire (California)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 5 Miles N from Tierra del Sol, CA
- Personnel
- 256
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Brush (2 feet)
- Behavior
- Minimal
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
Expanding at an average rate of 309 acres per day over the last four days, the THORN Fire has consumed 1,234 acres of private brush land five miles north of Tierra del Sol, California. Currently managed as a Type 3 incident near Live Oak Springs in San Diego County, the blaze is showing minimal fire behavior as 256 personnel work to secure the perimeter.
With 85 percent containment achieved, the active operation has incurred costs totaling $4,183,408 since ignition on July 15, 2026. A Type 3 team continues to oversee suppression efforts on the two-foot brush fuel beds.
In context
This wildfire burned in California for 41 days. In total it burned about 1,234 acres — around 5.0 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 3,133,897 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 43% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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