LIVE · updated

Fires Near Rapid City, SD

Live wildfire tracking around Rapid City: every active fire within 300 miles with distance, size, containment, wind, smoke, and air quality, from official US sources.

8
Fires within 100 mi
11 mi
Nearest fire
0
Weather alerts
13
Air quality · Good

Get ready

Live risk assessment for Rapid City, SD

Live

There is meaningful fire activity near this location. This area has no live evacuation feed, so check your county's official emergency channels for any notices. Pack essentials, plan an evacuation route, and check official updates at least hourly.

  • The nearest uncontained fire is 11 miles away. Wind-driven fires can cover that distance in a day.
  • Wind at the Needles fire (71 mi away) is blowing 15 mph N, roughly toward your location.
There are currently 46 active fires within 300 miles of Rapid City, SD, including 1 within 25 miles and 8 within 100 miles. None are inside Rapid City city limits. The most significant is the Needles fire, 71 miles away at 6,018 acres, 100% contained. Wind at the Needles fire is blowing 15 mph N, roughly toward Rapid City, SD. No firefighting aircraft have been active within 50 miles of Rapid City, SD in the past 12 hours.
Air quality measured at the Credit Union monitor 2 miles away is good (AQI 13).
Early signal: satellite heat detected nearby. Satellites picked up 3 heat detections in the last 24 hours, the closest about 3 miles away, that do not match any officially reported fire. Detections like this are often the first public sign of a new ignition, though they can also be industrial heat or agricultural burning. Turn on the Satellite heat layer on the map below and check back over the next few hours.

House pin: Rapid City, SD. Bold outline: Rapid City city limits. Dashed rings show distance from the city center. Red or amber shaded zones are active evacuation areas.

Evacuation status

South Dakota does not publish a live evacuation zone feed covering this location yet, so we cannot confirm zone-level status here either way. During an active fire, check the county emergency links in the resources section below; that is where evacuation notices are posted first.

Is there a fire near me?

Enter any US or Canadian address or town for an instant risk report: nearby fires, wind, smoke, air quality, and evacuation alerts.

Fires by distance

City limits
0
no fires
≤ 25 mi
1
97 acres
≤ 50 mi
2
541 acres
≤ 100 mi
8
7,639 acres
≤ 200 mi
29
49K acres
≤ 300 mi
46
66K acres

This season vs the last decade

19% of an average year
Burned so far in 20261.2K acres
10-year average (2016–2025, full year)6.2K acres

So far in 2026, 1.2K acres have burned within 25 miles of Rapid City, 19% of the 6.2K acres burned in an average full year from 2016 to 2025.

Active fires near Rapid City, SD

Every active fire within 300 miles, closest first.

Want the whole state? See the live South Dakota wildfire map →

Latest updates on fires near Rapid City

Generated automatically from official feeds the moment they change: size, containment, evacuation zones, aircraft, and incident team updates.

  1. Davis Coulee Fire · Containment rose to 80%

    12 hours ago · September 25, 2026

  2. Cabin Springs Fire · Containment rose to 34%

    13 hours ago · September 25, 2026

  3. Crow Head Fire · New perimeter mapped at 1 acres (national perimeter feed)

    19 hours ago · September 25, 2026

  4. Moonshine Fire · Containment rose to 74%

    38 hours ago · September 24, 2026

  5. Cabin Springs Fire · New perimeter mapped at 131 acres (national perimeter feed)

    2 days ago · September 23, 2026

  6. Cabin Springs Fire · Grew 20 acres in 2 hours to 40 acres

    2 days ago · September 23, 2026

  7. Fairpoint Fire · Fire reported 100% contained

    2 days ago · September 23, 2026

  8. Duhamel Fire · Fire reported 100% contained

    2 days ago · September 23, 2026

  9. Pugsley Fire · New perimeter mapped at 1 acres (national perimeter feed)

    3 days ago · September 22, 2026

  10. Eagle Springs Fire · Firefighting aircraft on scene (N215GH)

    3 days ago · September 22, 2026

Historic fires near Rapid City

The largest wildfires on record within 100 miles.

Region 23 Complex
2012
86,201 acres · 92 mi away
Jasper
2000
83,500 acres · 41 mi away
Wellnitz
2012
77,683 acres · 92 mi away
Oil Creek
2012
62,318 acres · 54 mi away
Legion Lake
2017
54,023 acres · 25 mi away
Sioux County Complex
2006
48,800 acres · 97 mi away

Wildfire history near you

How close have major wildfires come to your home in South Dakota? Search any US or Canadian address to see the largest fires on record nearby, with size, year, and impact, on a radius map.

Other cities in South Dakota

Sioux Falls