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
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
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
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
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
This is a good one! Colorado’s Critical Fire Week: Aspen Acres, Gold Mountain, Willow, Snyder & More Livestream recap and analysis from The Lookout – June 29, 2026 AI-generated summary of the Livestream, edited by Zeke Lunder, wildfire analyst and founder of The Lookout Big-Picture Setup: Why Colorado Is Flaring Up Now As of June … Read more
This Lookout Livestream provides an update on Utah Wildfires for 6/29/2026 AI Summary of Lookout Livestream, edited by Zeke Cottonwood Fire (Utah) The Cottonwood Fire has largely quieted down after several active days earlier in the week. According to weather data from the Cottonwood Mountain station, strong nighttime humidity recovery (coupled with an easing of … Read more
Note: This article is based upon an AI-generated summary of today’s Lookout Livestream. It has been edited and proof-read by a human. Watch the Livestream, here: Western U.S. Wildfires Surge Under Powerful Southwest Winds; Three Firefighters Killed in Colorado Strong southwest winds and critically dry conditions across the interior West have driven explosive wildfire growth … Read more
In this Lookout Livestream, we discuss the Cottonwood fire in Utah, highlighting its current (Lookout estimate) size of over 90,000 acres and potential expansion to well over 100,000 acres. The fire, burning in the Tushar Mountains of SW Utah, has been active on the northwest and south flanks, with significant runs driven by southwest winds. … Read more
This Lookout Livestream reviews recent behavior of the Cottonwood Fire in Utah—its big run up Beaver River through Copes Basin and Eagle Point Resort, current lull due to higher humidity, and potential for major spread in the coming days/weeks. We also use predictive fire spread modeling tools from the Pyregence Project to evaluate potential long-term … Read more
I filmed on a burn on Harmony Ridge, above Nevada City yesterday with a newish private company called ‘First Rain Land Stewardship‘. They run a thinning crew out of Nevada City and the owner is a CARX California State-Certified Burn Boss. I wanted to cover this burn because with all of the media attention on … Read more
On June 8, 2026, Cal Fire set out to conduct a long-skinny, prescribed burn along Highway 128 west of Winters, California, to create a fuel break between Pleasants Valley Road west toward Lake Berryessa. The fire, which was intended only for a narrow strip along the highway, escaped, ran up the hill, and by sunset, … Read more
In this Lookout Livestream, we dive into the fascinating (we think!) world of wildland fire fuels. We talk about the terminology and basic science of wildfire, and how the vegetation, homes, weeds, forests, and other burnable things on the landscape affect the way that fires behave. We also talk about the seasonality of wildfires in … Read more
The Garnet Fire continues to gobble acres, but the weather is cooling down a bit, and shortly, the fire will run out of mountains to run to the top of. Tonight’s Lookout Livestream tracks today’s developments on the fire. We also talk about the Blue and Dillon Fires, and how tactics that look easy on … Read more
The Garnet Fire has gobbled about 20 square miles in the past 12 hours. We’ll catch you up on where this new growth is happening. Below, we also have the second half of this livestream, which is focused more on forestry. We split them up so the good forestry info wouldn’t get burned in the … Read more
Though our semi-daily Lookout Livestreams usually are focused on current developments on active fires, we end up covering a lot of broader wildland firefighting, forestry, and prescribed fire topics. This episode uses the ongoing Garnet and Dillon Fires to illustrate indirect attack tactics – the practice of preparing firelines well in advance of the fire’s … Read more
We’ve been reporting on how the Garnet Fire, burning on the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, has been spreading into a large area of old-growth forest in the Teakettle Experimental Forest. The Climate & Wildfire Institute, a think tank with connections to UCLA, got about $5.4 million from the California Climate Investments (CCI) fund … Read more
