About firemap.us

Pulling from multiple data sources, this map was designed with legibility and performance in mind. Information on each of the datasets below.

Data collection runs on a ten-minute schedule, independently of site deployments. The map checks loaded datasets for updates every five minutes. Collection time does not mean observation time: agency reports, satellite products, and smoke analyses have their own delays. During outages, the map may retain the last available data. Check the layer status and incident timestamps; this site does not represent live conditions on the ground.

Questions? Issues? UX feedback? Please let me know at info@firemap.us.

This site does not collect any personally identifiable information.

Built by Ruud Media.

  • Potential Fire Activity (GOES)

    Pulled from NOAA's GOES-19 (East) and GOES-18 (West) ABI-L2-FDCC fire/hot-spot characterization product. This is an estimate of current fire activity in the last ~30 minutes. Collection is scheduled every 10 minutes. Both satellites must agree on a region for it to be shown — single-satellite detections are filtered out to suppress sun-glint and view-angle artifacts.

    Prone to false positives. Bodies of water, solar farms, and other energy infrastructure can cause false positives.

    This data is highly imprecise — it should only be used as an indication of possible fire activity.

  • Wildfire incidents (WFIGS + CAL FIRE)

    Incidents come from the WFIGS feature service, enriched with newer CAL FIRE acreage and containment reports. Active CAL FIRE incidents missing from WFIGS are also included. Wildfires are major when they cover at least 100 acres, have reported personnel, or have an incident management organization; other wildfires are minor and hidden by default. Prescribed burns are a separate layer.

  • Wildfire perimeters (WFIGS)

    Perimeters are sourced from and maintained by various agencies. They update sporadically and reflect the most accurate confirmed fire and burn-area perimeters available.

  • Hotspots (VIIRS)

    NASA FIRMS provides VIIRS detections from Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 over a rolling 48-hour window. Detections are confidence-filtered and clipped to the contiguous United States. Satellite overpasses and processing delays mean these are not live observations.

    Prone to false positives. Energy infrastructure and other heat sources can cause false positives.

    This data is highly imprecise — it should only be used as an indication of possible recent fire activity.

  • Smoke (NOAA HMS)

    NOAA Hazard Mapping System satellite analysis outlines light, medium, and heavy smoke. The collector uses the current daily file, falling back to the previous day when it is not yet available. Smoke aloft does not establish ground-level air quality or exposure.

  • Fire weather alerts (NWS)

    National Weather Service Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches mark areas with critical or potentially critical fire weather. When an alert lacks its own polygon, affected forecast-zone boundaries provide coverage. These alerts describe weather conditions, not active fire boundaries or evacuation orders.