Windmill Fire (Montana)
Started on Aug 19, 2026.
United States todayLive
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
- 9 Miles N from Reed Point, MT
- Cause
- Natural
- Personnel
- 105
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Brush (2 feet)
- Behavior
- Minimal, Smoldering, Creeping
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
Burning across private lands in Stillwater County, Montana, the Windmill Fire has completed a six-day campaign that carved through 4,253 acres of two-foot brush situated nine miles north of Reed Point. Spreading at an approximate average of 709 acres per day, the fire eventually reached full containment under the oversight of a Type 3 Team and 105 personnel, drawing a suppression cost of $2,900,000.
Fire behavior on the incident has settled into minimal, smoldering, and creeping activity. This regional fire occurs during the typical Montana fire season, which runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader context shows 3,005,648 hectares burned so far in 2026, tracking 45 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire has been burning in Montana for 25 days. So far it has affected roughly 4,253 acres — about 17 km². The perimeter is 100% contained.
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 3,216,670 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 41% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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