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Montana Wildfires: Live Fire Map

27 active wildfires burning 43,622 acres in Montana right now. NIFC/IRWIN data.

27
Active fires
44K
Acres
14
Under 50% contained
101
Air quality · Unhealthy for sensitive groups

Current situation in Montana

Elevated activity
Large fires (1K+)
7
New fires (48h)
5
NWS alerts
1

Montana currently has 27 active wildfires burning a combined 43,622 acres. 7 of them are large incidents of 1,000+ acres, and 6 of those are still under 50% containment. The biggest is the Sand Creek fire in Beaverhead County at 15,784 acres, 0% contained. 5 new fires have been discovered in the past 48 hours. The National Weather Service has 1 active fire, wind, or heat alert covering parts of the state, including 1 Red Flag Warning. Air quality near the center of the state is unhealthy for sensitive groups (AQI 101).

New to fire terms?What containment meansRed Flag Warnings explained

Bold outline: Montana boundary. Fires outside the border are in neighboring states.

1 active weather alert
Red Flag Warninguntil Aug 11, 8:45 AM

Red Flag Warning issued August 10 at 6:45PM MDT until August 11 at 9:00PM MDT by NWS Missoula MT

Deerlodge/Western Beaverhead National Forest; Eastern Beaverhead National Forest

Read full alert at weather.gov

Source: National Weather Service. Alerts open the official NWS record.

This season vs the last decade

28% of an average year
Burned so far in 202693K acres
10-year average (2016–2025, full year)326K acres

So far in 2026, 93K acres have burned in Montana, 28% of the 326K acres burned in an average full year from 2016 to 2025.

Active fires in Montana

Wildfire history in Montana

All reported wildfires since 2014, NIFC interagency records.

2017
Worst year · 1.3M acres
1,839
Fires / year · average
24K
Total fires · since 2014
Human & property impact, 1999-2020
1,654
Structures destroyed
3
Lives lost
$1.9B
Reported cost

From 1,448 fires with federal ICS-209 reports. Source: ICS-209-PLUS (St. Denis et al.).

Acres burned by year
'15
'20
'25
'26
Fires recorded by year
1.4K2.9K2014: 840 fires20142015: 1.7K fires2016: 1.3K fires20162017: 2.0K fires2018: 1.2K fires20182019: 1.5K fires2020: 2.3K fires20202021: 2.9K fires2022: 2.1K fires20222023: 1.7K fires2024: 2.4K fires20242025: 2.4K fires2026: 1.6K fires2026
Trend analysis

Over the last five years, Montana averaged 116K acres burned and 2,040 fires per year. That is 71% down in acreage and 19% up in fire count versus the 2014–2021 baseline. Recent seasons have been quieter than the long-term norm.

Largest fires on record in Montana

  • Valley Complex2000239 structures destroyed292,070 acres
  • Lodgepole Complex201731 structures destroyed270,743 acres
  • Bridge Coulee2017253,261 acres
  • Ash Creek201239 structures destroyed249,562 acres
  • Derby Fire200647 structures destroyed223,570 acres

Emergency resources for Montana

Official channels for evacuation orders, shelters, and emergency alerts. In an immediate emergency, call 911.

Montana Disaster & Emergency ServicesAlertsState emergency coordination and alerts.des.mt.govRed Cross open shelter mapSheltersLive map of currently open emergency shelters nationwide.redcross.orgInciWeb incident informationEvacuationsOfficial updates, closures, and evacuation notices for federal wildfires.inciweb.wildfire.govDisasterAssistance.govFire infoFEMA assistance programs if you are affected by a declared disaster.disasterassistance.govState emergency management directoryAlertsUSA.gov directory of every state emergency management agency.usa.gov

Fires near a city in Montana

BillingsMissoulaBozemanHelenaKalispell

Nearby states

California (107)Oregon (92)Washington (40)Wyoming (27)Arizona (24)Idaho (21)