Started on May 15, 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
- Morton County
- Cause
- Natural
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
After burning for 62 days, the Windmill Fire in Morton County, Kansas, continues to show active behavior as it consumes private land. The blaze has maintained a steady progression, averaging approximately 24 acres of growth per day.
Since its natural ignition on May 15, 2026, the fire has expanded to cover 1,500 acres. Fire officials remain focused on the incident as it persists across the local landscape.
In context
This wildfire burned in Kansas for 133 days. In total it burned about 1,500 acres — around 6.1 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 3,368,499 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 39% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Reports from people near the fire · unverified
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