Upper Smith Fire (Idaho)
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
- 6 Miles W from Porthill, ID
- Cause
- Natural
- Personnel
- 87
- Complexity
- Type 4 Incident
- Fuel
- Timber (Litter and Understory)
- Behavior
- Minimal, Backing, Torching, Smoldering
- Jurisdiction
- USFS · Federal land
Burning for 59 days with an average daily growth of approximately 82 acres per day, the 4,848-acre Upper Smith Fire remains active six miles west of Porthill, Idaho, in Boundary County near Bonners Ferry. Currently 41 percent contained by 101 personnel under a Type 3 Team managing this Type 4 Incident, the federal USFS blaze on federal land exhibits minimal, backing, creeping, and smoldering fire behavior within timber, litter, and understory fuels. The natural-cause fire has accumulated a cost of $32,593,085.
This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Across the country, a broader context frames the season, with 3,178,795 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a total that is 42 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Idaho for 61 days. So far it has affected roughly 4,848 acres — about 20 km². Crews have contained 41% of the perimeter, but most of the fire line is still open.
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 3,185,593 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 42% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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