US Wildfire Map Today

Copernicus satellite fire detections loaded live: today

Orange markers: fires detected by satellite (last 7 days). Dark red areas: burned area this season. Zoom in on a state for detail, or use the layer button (top right) to toggle layers.

Wildfires: A National Problem

The United States fights tens of thousands of wildfires every year, and together they burn several million acres, an area larger than some states. The West has the most destructive fires, but Alaska, the Great Plains, the Southeast and even the East Coast all have their own fire seasons. Firefighting is coordinated by a federal system with no equal anywhere: the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, brings together federal, state and local crews, elite hotshot teams, smokejumpers and a huge fleet of air tankers and helicopters.

The "fire season" is hardly a season anymore. Chronic drought and winter wind events now produce disasters at any time of year, as the Los Angeles fires of January 2025 showed. Tens of millions of Americans live in the wildland-urban interface, where homes meet forest, brush and grassland, and that is how wildfires regularly turn into urban disasters.

Wildfire Regions of the United States

California

California is the most affected state, from the chaparral of the south to the giant forests of the Sierra Nevada. The Camp Fire of November 2018 destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people. In 2020 the August Complex became the state's first "gigafire", burning more than one million acres. In January 2025 the Palisades and Eaton fires, driven by extreme Santa Ana winds, destroyed entire neighborhoods of Los Angeles: around 30 people died and more than 16,000 buildings were lost.

Pacific Northwest and the Northern Rockies

Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana hold vast conifer forests where the summers of 2020 and 2021 produced giant fires and orange skies over Portland and Seattle. In Colorado and Utah the risk now reaches the suburbs: the Marshall Fire of December 2021 destroyed about a thousand homes between Boulder and Denver.

The Desert Southwest

Arizona and New Mexico burn mostly in spring and early summer, before the monsoon rains arrive. In 2022 the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, the largest in New Mexico's history, started when prescribed burns escaped control. Texas and Oklahoma face fast-moving grass fires: the Smokehouse Creek Fire of February 2024 burned more than a million acres of the Texas Panhandle.

Alaska and Boreal Fires

In hot years the taiga and tundra of Alaska burn across millions of acres, releasing large amounts of carbon from the soil. Many of these fires are far from any town and are monitored rather than fought, and in some years they make up most of the national total.

Hawaii and Island Disasters

In August 2023 the Lahaina fire on Maui, Hawaii, destroyed the historic town and killed about 100 people. It was the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century, fed by dry invasive grasses and hurricane-force winds.

The Southeast

Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas burn often, but mostly in low-intensity fires, and many are prescribed burns set deliberately to clear underbrush. Drought years can still be dangerous: in November 2016 the Chimney Tops 2 fire swept out of the Great Smoky Mountains into Gatlinburg, Tennessee, killing 14 people.

Smoke: A Continent-Wide Impact

Smoke plumes from large US and Canadian fires cross the whole continent. In June 2023 smoke from wildfires in Canada turned the sky over New York City orange. Air quality alerts (AQI) are now a normal part of summer for tens of millions of North Americans, far from the areas that are actually burning. Check AirNow.gov for the air quality where you live.

How to Read the Map

The orange markers are thermal anomalies (heat signatures) detected by satellite sensors (MODIS and VIIRS) over the last 7 days, provided by the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) of the European Copernicus program. The dark red areas are burned areas mapped since the start of the season. A detection can also be an agricultural burn, a prescribed fire or an industrial gas flare, which is why you may see markers in farm country or in the oil fields of Texas and North Dakota.

This map is for information only. For the official status of a US wildfire (size, containment, evacuations), rely on NIFC, InciWeb and your state and county emergency services, such as CAL FIRE in California.

If There Is a Fire Near You

• Call 911 to report a fire or any emergency.
• Follow official alerts: Wireless Emergency Alerts on your phone, your local fire department and sheriff, and InciWeb for large fires. Many counties also have their own alert sign-up.
• If you get an evacuation order, leave immediately using the routes officials give you. Do not wait until you can see flames.
• An evacuation warning means be ready to leave at any moment: pack the car, keep the tank full, gather medications, documents and pets.
• If the smoke is heavy, stay indoors with windows closed, run an air purifier if you have one, and wear an N95 mask outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Maps

• California Map, Oregon Map, Washington Map, Colorado Map and Alaska Map - the states with the most fire activity
• National Parks USA Map - many western parks sit in high fire-risk areas
• US Population Density Map - where people live relative to fire country
• State Maps - maps of all 50 states