Xu Hill Fire (South Dakota)
Started on Aug 11, 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).
Active fires nearby2 · 100 km
Quick facts
- Location
- 12 Miles N from White River Ranger Station, SD
- Personnel
- 28
- Complexity
- Type 4 Incident
- Fuel
- Tall Grass (2.5 feet)
- Behavior
- Minimal, Running, Flanking
- Jurisdiction
- BIA · Federal land
Burning across 1,297 acres of federal land in Oglala Lakota, South Dakota, the active Xu Hill Fire has consumed the landscape near Rockyford at an average daily growth of approximately 649 acres per day over its two days of burning. Fire behavior is characterized as minimal, running, and flanking through 2.5-foot tall grass.
A Type 4 Incident managed by a Type 4 IC with 28 personnel from the Bureau of Indian Affairs has brought the fire to 90 percent containment. Operations have incurred a cost of 90,000 USD near the White River Ranger Station.
Regionally, South Dakota's typical fire season spans from June to October. Across the country, 2,893,377 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 47 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in South Dakota for 6 days. In total it burned about 1,297 acres — around 5.2 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 3,213,890 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 41% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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