Where does this wildfire data come from?

Fire locations, sizes, containment percentages, and perimeters come from NIFC/WFIGS, the National Interagency Fire Center's official incident data — the same source behind government fire maps. This page refreshes every 5 minutes.

Do wildfires close highways?

Yes — every summer, fires and heavy smoke close Western highways, often with little warning. State DOTs issue the closures, and the MileCheck app shows them as live road alerts tied to the mile marker, so you know what's ahead before you're stuck in it.

What does percent containment mean?

Containment is how much of the fire's perimeter has a control line around it that firefighters expect to hold. 60% contained means crews have secured about 60% of the fire's edge — it does not mean the fire is 60% out.

Live US wildfire map

Every active wildfire in the country — location, acres, percent containment, and burned-area perimeters — straight from NIFC, the national fire agency. Updates every 5 minutes. When a fire closes a highway, the closure shows up in the MileCheck app the moment the state DOT issues it.

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Legend 🔥 Active fire NEW under 48 hrs ▮ Perimeter ⛔ Road closed 🔥 Faded = contained RX Prescribed burn

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State

Largest active fires

🔥 See fires on your map, in the app

The live fire layer — sized by acreage, color-coded, with new-fire alerts near you — is built into MileCheck Premium, right on your driving map. $19.99/yr or $4.99/mo, 2-week free trial.

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Fires don't close roads until they do.

MileCheck shows your exact highway mile marker plus live state DOT feeds — including fire closures — in real time. Your mile markers work offline in all 50 states; live alerts update when you have a connection.

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About this data and the layers

incidents and perimeters come from NIFC/WFIGS, the National Interagency Fire Center's official feed — the same source behind government fire maps. "% contained" means how much of the fire's edge has a control line firefighters expect to hold, not how much of the fire is out. Amber tags mark prescribed (Rx) burns — planned, controlled fires, not emergencies. Evacuation orders and Red Flag Warnings come live from the National Weather Service alert feed; the camera toggle shows live cameras within about 20 miles of the fires in view (zoom in to load them) — road cameras from state DOTs (green), FAA aviation weather cameras (grey), and National Park Service webcams (purple); FAA and most park cameras open on their source site, road cameras show an inline snapshot. The aircraft toggle shows firefighting aircraft — air tankers, scoopers, lead planes, air attack, and helicopters working low and slow in the fire area — currently airborne near the fires in view, identified by callsign and aircraft type from the ADSB.lol community ADS-B network (ODbL). Coverage depends on volunteer radio receivers, so remote fires may show fewer aircraft than are actually flying, and most fire aviation stands down at night. The smoke toggle overlays NOAA's near-surface smoke forecast guidance (HRRR-based) — darker shading means thicker forecast smoke at ground level; it's a model forecast, not a satellite photo. The air-quality toggle shows EPA AirNow's latest AQI contours for areas at Moderate or worse (all-Good areas aren't shaded). The history toggle outlines past years' burned-area perimeters (100+ acres) from NIFC's interagency fire-history archive — zoom in to a region to load them. The wind toggle reads the latest weather-station observation near each large (1,000+ ac) fire in view via the National Weather Service; the arrow points the way the wind is blowing — roughly the direction a fire would be pushed. Zoom and pan the map; the fire list updates to what's in view, largest first. Newsrooms and community sites that want to embed this map, or anyone with a licensing question: info@milecheckapp.com.