Started on Aug 21, 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
- 15 miles northwest of Mountainair, NM
- Cause
- Natural
- People working on it
- 1 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Timber (Litter and Understory)
- How it's behaving
- MinimalCreeping — Moves slowly, hugging the ground.Smoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.
- Jurisdiction
- USFS · Federal 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 the timbered terrain of Torrance County, the Whiskey Fire has maintained an active status 15 miles northwest of Mountainair, New Mexico, since its natural ignition on August 21, 2026. Over its 32-day duration, the fire has expanded at an approximate rate of 17 acres per day to encompass 542 acres of federal land under USFS jurisdiction. Despite this prolonged trajectory, current fire behavior on the ground is characterized as minimal, creeping, and smoldering through litter and understory fuels.
Suppression efforts are currently managed by a Type 4 incident command team overseeing 37 personnel. These combined tactical operations have successfully raised containment to 75 percent, while total expenditures for the incident have reached $4,331,060.
The Whiskey Fire unfolds against a broader national backdrop in which 3,259,929 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, marking a figure 41 percent below the two-decade average. This regional activity aligns with the area's typical fire season, which traditionally spans from June to October.
In context
This wildfire burned in New Mexico for 49 days. In total it burned about 542 acres — around 2.2 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 3,375,552 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 38% 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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