About Wildfire Trackers

Wildfire Trackers makes it easier to track wildfire activity across the United States. The site pulls data from multiple federal and state agencies into one place, so you don't have to bounce between several different government websites to get a full picture of what's burning. No other single site combines perimeter data from this many sources into one unified view.

New fires usually show up on the site within minutes of being reported. Data refreshes every five minutes, so what you see is always close to the latest information available from official sources.

Multi-Source Perimeter Data

Fire perimeter data is scattered across different agencies, which makes it hard to get a complete view. Wildfire Trackers pulls perimeter boundaries from multiple sources, including InciWeb (the federal Incident Information System) and CAL FIRE (the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), and automatically links them to the correct fire incidents. Government sites typically only show their own data, so this is the only place where perimeters from all major agencies are combined on a single interactive map.

Behind the scenes, a three-step matching process combines geographic proximity, temporal overlap, and name similarity to link perimeters to the right fires, even when naming conventions differ between agencies.

Animated Perimeter Growth

Every fire detail page includes an animated perimeter growth map that shows how a fire expanded over time. The map plays through historical perimeter snapshots in sequence, using a color gradient from red to yellow to show the chronological progression. Most fire tracking sites only show the current perimeter. Wildfire Trackers stores the full history and lets you watch the fire's progression day by day.

Below is an example showing the perimeter growth of the Gifford Fire:

Fire Statistics

Each fire has a statistics panel showing days active, total acres burned, 24-hour growth rate, average daily growth, and containment percentage displayed as a color-coded donut chart (red for low containment, yellow for moderate, green for high).

Raw acreage numbers are hard to picture, so Wildfire Trackers compares fire sizes to familiar landmarks. A fire might be described as "3.5x the size of Manhattan" or "about the size of San Francisco." These comparisons are calculated for every fire and update as the fire grows.

Fire detail pages also include growth and containment charts that plot how a fire's size and containment level have changed day by day. This historical tracking isn't available on most government fire sites, which only report the current numbers.

Interactive Mapping

The full-screen interactive map shows all active fire perimeters, fire origin points, and satellite-detected smoke plumes across the country on a single map. Active fires appear as red markers with their perimeter boundaries overlaid. Clicking any fire or perimeter shows detailed information including size, containment, personnel deployed, managing agency, and a link to the full fire detail page.

Several base map layers are available, including topographic, satellite, and street views. The map loads data in tiles for fast performance even when hundreds of fires are active at once.

Smoke Plume Tracking

Wildfire Trackers shows real-time satellite smoke detection data from NOAA as overlays on the same map alongside fire perimeters. Smoke density (light, medium, and heavy) is indicated, which can help you gauge air quality impact in your area even if you're far from the fire itself. Most fire tracking sites don't include smoke data at all, or show it on a separate map.

State and Regional Tracking

Every U.S. state has its own wildfire page showing all active and recent fires within its borders, along with state-level statistics and a leaderboard of the largest fires that season. City-level pages show fires near specific communities, which is useful if you want to know what's burning near where you live rather than scanning a national map. The national homepage includes a state leaderboard showing which states have the most active fire activity and where new fires have been reported in the last seven days.

Complex Fire Detection

When multiple fires are managed together as a single incident (known as a fire complex), Wildfire Trackers automatically detects and links them. Complex fires are clearly marked, and their detail pages show the relationship between the parent complex and its member fires. This structure is often buried or missing on government sites.

Search

The site-wide search lets you find any fire by name, city, state, or year. Results appear as you type, with badges showing whether a fire is active, part of a complex, or from a prior year. Search covers the full database of current and historical fires, not just the ones currently on the page.

Data Sources

All fire and perimeter data comes from official government sources. Fire incidents and perimeters are sourced from InciWeb (managed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group) and CAL FIRE. Smoke plume data comes from NOAA satellite detection. City and geographic data is sourced from GeoNames. Wildfire Trackers doesn't generate its own fire data. It aggregates, deduplicates, and presents official data in a way that's easier to use and understand than the original sources.

Contact

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