Sand Creek Fire

Situation Summary

Automated summary generated: Nov 4, 2026 16:45 UTC. It may lag behind the report and is not an official alert.

The Sand Creek wildfire, located in Beaverhead County, Montana, was first discovered on August 1, 2026, and remains an undetermined cause incident under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service. By August 6, the fire had burned 1,684 acres with no containment, but by August 30 it had expanded to 34,083 acres and was 13% contained, prompting the deployment of 620 personnel. The fire’s growth slowed dramatically, reaching 35,520 acres by September 14 and achieving 58% containment; containment continued to improve, reaching 83% by September 26 and ultimately 100% by October 29, with personnel numbers decreasing from 620 to just one as the fire stabilized. Throughout the timeline, the fire behavior remained minimal, with backing, creeping, and smoldering conditions reported, and the estimated cost rose from $23.5 million to $38.4 million as resources were committed.

Official source description: 5 Miles E from Wisdom, MT

Recorded Fire Progression

Historical observations from incident reports, not a live forecast. Acreage and containment can decrease when agencies correct their estimates.

Latest available source report: Oct 29, 2026 16:10 UTC. This is the report date, not confirmation of current fire conditions.

Reported acreage increased by 33,836 acres between the first and last available acreage measurements. Recorded containment rose by 100.0 percentage points, from 0.0% (Aug 6, 2026) to 100.0% (Oct 29, 2026), using the first and last reports with a known containment value.

Reported changes over time

Showing 12 representative changes from 35 distinct recorded measurements, including the first and last distinct measurements. The latest source report date is shown above, even when measurements have not changed.