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
Key facts
Source: NIFCGlossary: 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.
The story so far
Burning across federal hardwood litter in Coos County, the Wild River Fire is active 5 miles southwest of Shelburne, New Hampshire. Satellites have registered 5 heat detections over the past 48 hours, illustrating the local spread of the incident. The blaze exhibits moderate, smoldering, and creeping behavior on the ground.
The fire has been burning for 2 days since its start on November 1, 2026, growing at an approximate rate of 144 acres per day. It has now reached a size of 288 acres, with 11 percent containment achieved so far.
Operations are managed by a Type 4 Incident Command under a Type 4 Incident designation, utilizing a team of 50 personnel coordinated by the USFS. The cost to suppress the incident has reached about $15,000.
This activity occurs outside the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. Across the country, 3,475,376 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that sits 37 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in New Hampshire for 2 days. So far it has affected roughly 288 acres — about 1.2 km². Crews have contained 11% 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 3,475,376 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 37% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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