Satellites first detected fire on 3 November 2026 in Pacific, United States. It has been active for 3 days, with 42 heat detections and an area with fire of about 434 hectares rebuilt from them, spread across a single county.
The power measured by the satellite is low (19.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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Burned area
satellite only
≈ 434ha
Estimated from hotspots: no perimeter has been published yet.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
3 Nov 2026 – 5 Nov 2026
+− cross-check
This is an estimate from the VIIRS pixels that saw fire. It will change when the perimeter is published.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
3days
From 3 Nov 2026 to today: still being detected.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 5 Nov 2026, 11:49 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
3 Nov 2026
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
3 Nov 2026
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only
42
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 19 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (NOAA-20)
Date
3 Nov 2026 – 5 Nov 2026
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
278MW
Total radiative power on 3 November 2026; hotspots that day: 21.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
3 Nov 2026
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
0.5FWI · very low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 3.
Source
WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
Date
3 Nov 2026, local noon
Model
ECMWF IFS 0,25° · Open-Meteo.com · provisional
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
15.5°C · 51% RH
High of 15.5 °C and minimum humidity of 51% on 3 November 2026; gusts of 44 km/h on 4 November 2026.
Source
weather model at the fire’s grid cell
Date
3 Nov 2026 – 5 Nov 2026
Model
ECMWF IFS 0,25° · Open-Meteo.com · provisional
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
ⓘThis page is not in the change log yet: its first snapshot is saved tonight. What follows is reconstructed from each source’s date.
Show
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the forecast (provisional until ERA5 arrives)
NIFC has not yet published the perimeter of this fire. For now the area is the one rebuilt from heat detections (about 14 hectares per pixel). When the perimeter arrives, this page picks it up on its own and keeps the same address.
Is it still active?
Satellites detected fire on 5 Nov 2026, 11:49 UTC. Everything suggests it is still burning. Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Area with fire
≈ 434ha
rebuilt from hotspots, no official perimeter yet
Duration
3days
3 Nov 2026 – 5 Nov 2026
Counties hit
1
counties
Started on
3 Nov
2026
Heat detections
42
in a single hotspot: 19 MW
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Average daily power
103MW
detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
3 Nov5 Nov
Play back5 Nov 2026
How it evolved, day by day
3 Nov4 Nov5 Nov
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
16°high
44km/h · peak gust
51%lowest humidity
It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
Area with fire inside each county, rebuilt from heat detections (about 14 hectares per VIIRS pixel). An estimate until NIFC publishes the official perimeter. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
The weather day by day
ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · forecast models, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives
Day
High
Min. humidity
Peak gust
Rain
Danger (FWI)
3 Nov
15.5 °C
51 %
22 km/h
0.0 mm
Very low 0
4 Nov
12.5 °C
64 %
44 km/h
4.8 mm
Very low 1
5 Nov
11.3 °C
77 %
35 km/h
0.4 mm
Very low 0
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 0.5, a minimum humidity of 51% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2022: 1.
FWI at the start0.5
Minimum humidity51 %
Days without rain3
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
High Lava Fire, July 2026
1,173 ha13 daysFWI 12.0Min. humidity 56 %138 km away, in 2026
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 1. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How a twin is chosen
Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2022.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 27 Oct 2026
After · 4 Nov 2026
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
Detections table· 42Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and time
Satellite
FRP (MW)
Lat
Lon
Frequently asked questions
How long did the Pacific fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite, it burned from 3 November 2026 to 5 November 2026 (3 days between the first and the last detection). There is no perimeter yet to date it.
How much area did it burn?
There is no official perimeter yet: NIFC has not published it. Heat detections rebuild about 434 hectares with fire (4.3 km²).
Which counties burned?
The fire only entered Pacific (434 ha, 0.2 %).
Is the Pacific fire still active?
Yes: satellites detected fire on 5 Nov 2026, 11:49 UTC. Check the emergency service for the official status.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 15.5 °C, humidity dropped to 51 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 1, class Very low.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC, public domain), NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United States. It is not an official report.
Where to verify it
A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.
This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.
⚑Report an errorHow we know this›
No perimeter yet: the area (≈ 434 ha) is estimated by counting VIIRS pixels with fire, about 14 ha each.
Dates of the first and last VIIRS detection of the cluster. 42 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Weather: ECMWF IFS model, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives.
The perimeter is official and in the public domain. For past years it comes from MTBS (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity), run by the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service, which map it on Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. For the current and last year it comes from WFIGS at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): incident perimeters mapped by fire crews, aircraft and imagery. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. County boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per county is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.