Started on Aug 14, 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
- 11 miles southeast of Throckmorton, TX
- People working on it
- 48 people
- Complexity
- Type 4 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.
- What's burning
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- How it's behaving
- ActiveGroup Torching — Whole clumps of trees flaring at once.
- Jurisdiction
- SFS · Private 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 private lands located 11 miles southeast of Throckmorton, Texas, in Throckmorton County, the active Woodson Creek Fire has charred 4,629 acres since its start on August 14, 2026. The fire has maintained a rapid trajectory over its two days burning, averaging approximately 2,315 acres per day. Driven by 2.5-foot tall grass fuels, fire behavior remains active with group torching observed on the ground. Overhead, satellites are picking up 25 heat detections within the last 48 hours, highlighting the extent of the spread across the area.
Containment efforts led by SFS are progressing, with the incident currently reaching 90 percent containment under a Type 4 Incident management structure overseen by a Type 4 IC. A modest response force of 48 personnel is assigned to manage the fire lines and suppress remaining activity.
This incident unfolds during the region's typical fire season, which spans from June to October. Nationally, the wildfire landscape presents a broader context: 2,909,844 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 47 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Texas for 3 days. In total it burned about 4,629 acres — around 19 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 3,288,995 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 40% 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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