Fire ecologist and aerial infrared mapping pioneer Dr. Tim Ball joined The Lookout to break down how wind, fuel, and terrain shape wildfire behavior from Reno’s Hawk Fire to the Big Sur backcountry. Drawing on decades of flying fires and studying plant ecology, he and Zeke dug into Zephyr winds, cheatgrass invasion, and what historic … Read more
The Timber Fire, in Big Sur, is opening a new chapter. As fuel conditions dry out, and the fire leaves the area of coastal influence, it is now free to burn east thru the Ventana Wilderness. 9:30pm update The fire added about 1,000 acres between 5:30pm and 9pm, this evening. Here is our evening briefing … Read more
The Timber Fire, in Big Sur, continues to grow to the east. In the past 2 days, the fire has pushed about a mile deeper into the canyons of the Ventana Wilderness, where steep, broken terrain makes fighting the fire directly very difficult for ground-based firefighters. Helicopters have been used over the past 10 days … Read more
Achieving beneficial fire effects with either a prescribed fire or even a wildfire is all about the conditions. Fire doesn’t care about calendar dates. However, regulating agencies have often suspended burn permits on strict calendar dates, regardless of actual conditions. In the Klamath Mountains, in Northwestern California, locals have been burning straight through this summer, … Read more
North of Reno along Highway 395, the Bug Fire ignited near the agricultural inspection station and has since merged with the Fred Fire, with the Stallion Fire burning farther north toward Pyramid Lake. Scroll down for updates on fires in the Pacific Northwest! Current Situation The Bug–Fred portion: Initially ran hard to the east under … Read more
This report looks at the current conditions and expected fire behavior on the Timber Fire, in Big Sur, California. In the video, below, we use our trademark style of live mapping and storytelling to examine how wildfire works in Big Sur’s mishmash of unique environments, and how the terrain, fuels, and weather affect options for … Read more
Western Fire Season Enters Relentless Phase as New Incidents Erupt from Big Sur to the North Cascades The Western fire season has shifted into a fuel‑driven, landscape‑scale phase, with emerging and established fires stretching from California’s Big Sur coast through the Klamath River region, Eastern Oregon, and deep into Washington’s North Cascades. In our latest … Read more
Good morning. Today is August 8, 2006, and we’re reporting on fires in the Pacific Northwest. Yesterday was a deadly day for firefighters in the American West. Two helicopter pilots died on the Widemouth 2 Fire in Central Utah, and a dozer operator died the night before last, during a blowup on the Wrights Spring … Read more
The Grasshopper Fire spreads steadily toward Mount Hood, the Brewer/Box Springs Fires resist indirect attack, two fires that have been smouldering for weeks are cranking, now, and the well-established fires in North-Central Washington are mainly contained or not spreading much, with exception of Sinlahekin and Little Giant. We forgot to cover the emerging Wright’s Spring … Read more
This livestream walks through why the Pacific Northwest saw a relative slowdown in fire activity after an extremely active day on the 1st, and what the sudden shift in fire behavior reveals about weather, fuels, and urban wildfire risk. Watch the Lookout Livestream, here, or scroll down to read it. Weather Pattern: A Needed Breather … Read more
Pacific Northwest Morning Report: Fire-By-Fire Breakdown Recorded August 2, 2026 This morning’s Lookout briefing walks through an intense and rapidly evolving fire situation across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Watch the full livestream, below, or scroll down for a written version, with static maps, organized fire-by-fire. Washington Fires Spokane Area Fires: Autumn Lane, Old Trails, … Read more
In tonight’s Lookout Livestream, we review maps and intel for the Pacific Northwest to try to get a handle on which fires might have the greatest potential for radical spread with tomorrow’s forecast for extreme fire spread weather conditions. Any fire which is currently still active has potential, but the following ones stand out: The … Read more
This episode of The Lookout Livestream discussed fires in France, Spain, and Eastern Oregon, highlighting the role that conifer plantations had played in fueling the extreme fire behavior currently being seen on large fires near Bordeaux. We note the Bordeaux region’s historical land management, which includes planting over 1,000,000 acres of dense conifer forest over … Read more
We opened our briefing on 7/26/2026 with a map of more than a million acres of active fire in Oregon alone. This post steps back from the incident-by-incident view to ask a bigger question: how does fire actually behave at landscape scale, and what does that mean for our real options in managing it? The … Read more
2-years ago, the destructive and massive Park Fire swept across Butte County, burning hundreds of homes. Today, we’re sharing the story and technical details of how a local homeowner and his son were able to save their home during an intense firefight on the first night of this fire, using an irrigation/firefighting system they had … Read more
It’s crazytown in the Pacific Northwest, today. The Rowe Creek Complex and Hay Creek Complex are basically connected now, and the Brewer and Box Springs have grown into the Rowe Creek Complex. The Beachcomb/Bench Fires are trying to eat Warm Springs, and the Shingle Fire added about 70k acres, yesterday. The Grasshopper Fire, east of … Read more
Welcome back to The Lookout! We have a fresh newsletter out this morning. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter if you’d like to get our wildfire-related reporting and other writings dropped sporadically into your inbox! Several new fires have emerged over the past 24 hours in the Pacific Northwest, and grown large quickly under … Read more
In the Pacific Northwest, numerous new wildfires have been growing since a fast-moving lightning storm moved through the region on the afternoon of July 22nd. Many of the large fires that started a week earlier have burned much of the fuel that was available to them and gone out, or been extinguished by firefighting. Despite … Read more
Akawa Butte Fire Pushes Toward Sisters as Lightning Bust Ignites New Blazes Across Oregon Date: July 22, 2026 Location: Sisters, Oregon, broader Pacific Northwest, California Last week, a volatile mix of dry fuels, hot temperatures, and fast-moving thunderstorms pushed Oregon’s fire season into high gear, with multiple large fires breaking out from the eastern slopes of … Read more
Rumsey, Chute, Biscar, East Evans Creek, Akawa Butte, and Aspen Acres in Focus By The Lookout – July 20, 2026 After a slow start in California, the state joins a wildfire season that has been well-underway across the American West. In a wide‑ranging briefing on July 20, The Lookout’s Zeke Lunder walked viewers through emerging and … Read more
Brook Fire Burnover: Vina Helitack Crew Suffers Minor Injuries in Near-Miss Entrapment On Backbone Ridge, just east of Redding, a Cal Fire Vina Helitack crew experienced a burnover yesterday on the Brook Fire during initial attack operations. Seven firefighters received minor burn injuries and were transported by helicopter to Redding, where they were treated and … Read more
Oregon and Washington Lightning Bust Spurs Dozens of Large Fires, Straining Crews from Medford to the Columbia Plateau Date: Sunday, July 19, 2026 By: The Lookout A major lightning bust across Oregon has ignited a sprawling web of fires from Southern Oregon to the Columbia Plateau, rapidly stretching firefighting resources and creating a highly volatile … Read more
Good morning, We are covering the large lightning bust that pounded Oregon in the past few days, sparking many large fires, mainly east of US Route 97, and north of US Route 20. Generally north and east of Bend. Scroll down for new maps for the Evans Creek Fire, near Medford. Lightning Fires and Recent … Read more
Here are some maps from last night’s infrared flight of the Evans Creek Fire, north of Central Point/Medford, Oregon. In the past 24 hours, the main fire backed down to the 34-3-3.2 Road on the SW. It didn’t spread much to the north. The larger spot fire to the east (Board Mtn) made a significant … Read more
Behind every dozer line on a map, every firing operation along a ridge, and every decision not to engage directly with the flames, there is a legacy of hard-learned lessons about risk, trauma, and the human cost of aggressive firefighting. A recent broadcast of The Lookout Livestream used ongoing fires in Colorado and the broader … Read more
Colorado wildfires see a welcome lull after days of explosive growth, with fire behavior moderating across the state and in neighboring regions. In this evening’s briefing, fire analyst and mapping specialist Zeke Lunder walks through a landscape that is still dangerous, but clearly less volatile than it has been during the last three broadcasts. High … Read more
Recorded July 3, 2026 – “Colorado Tactics” Lookout Livestream In this livestream, Lookout wildfire analyst and mapping specialist Zeke Lunder walks through a series of large ongoing fires in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, using current perimeters and high‑resolution terrain models to explain what firefighters can and cannot realistically do to control wildfire burning under today’s … Read more
By The Lookout Recorded: July 2, 2026 – Morning Livestream Hot, dry, windy weather is driving rapid growth on multiple fires across Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, with limited safe options for direct attack. Some blazes appear to be burning through areas that have recently been “treated” for fuels reduction, but remain highly flammable, due … Read more
