Cottonwood Creek Fire

Big Horn County, Montana · Wildfire

Active Official numbers updated Sep 10, 2026 (about 3 hours ago)
First reported today
Metric Now
Size
122 acres
Sep 10, 4:00 PM
Containment —
Crew size —
Money spent —

Cottonwood Creek Fire and other nearby fires

🔥 Where this fire started Mostly contained Partly contained Containment not reported

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Cottonwood Creek Fire summary

The Cottonwood Creek Fire is a wildfire near Big Horn County, Montana. It has burned about 122 acres (about 92 football fields). It's a brand-new fire, first reported today. We're also tracking 8 other active fires within about 75 miles.

Size
122 acres
Containment
Not yet reported
Discovered
September 10, 2026 (first reported today)
Cause
Not reported

The size and containment above are current as of Thursday, September 10th at 4:00 p.m. CDT.

Weather & fire-spread conditions

No Red Flag Warning. The National Weather Service hasn't flagged this area for dangerous fire-spread conditions right now.

Hot, dry, and windy weather can help a fire grow; cool, calm, or wet weather helps crews. The tags below rate each day for fire spread — green is calm, red can push a fire.

A general fire-weather guide (wind matters most, then how dry it is, then heat), not a prediction of what this fire will do.

This Afternoon

90°F · Sunny

Wind 7 to 13 mph WSW · 0% chance of rain

Wind: Breezy Heat: Hot Dry

Tonight

50°F · Mostly Clear

Wind 10 mph WSW · 1% chance of rain

Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Dry

Friday

71°F · Mostly Sunny

Wind 9 to 16 mph NNW · 8% chance of rain

Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Dry

Friday Night

45°F · Slight Chance Rain Showers then Mostly Cloudy

Wind 6 to 16 mph NNE · 22% chance of rain

Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Some rain

Saturday

70°F · Partly Sunny

Wind 6 to 12 mph ENE · 1% chance of rain

Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Dry

Forecast from the National Weather Service (weather.gov), pulled Thursday, September 10th at 4:06 p.m. CDT.

Could this fire move fast?

Weather isn't the only thing that changes how a fire moves. The ground matters too: how steep it is, and what's growing on it. These four numbers are for the exact spot where this fire started, not the whole fire. A big fire crosses a lot of different ground.

3° slope

Fire usually moves faster uphill than downhill. Heat and flame lean uphill, drying out the ground above the fire before it gets there.

Not wildfire fuel (NB3)

Farmland. Not a wildland fuel.

0% tree canopy cover

The more tree cover above a fire, the easier it is for the fire to climb from the ground into the treetops. That's called a crown fire. Crown fires move faster, throw embers farther ahead of the fire, and are harder for crews to stop head-on.

3,121 ft elevation

Elevation by itself doesn't make a fire more or less dangerous. But it shapes the other three numbers here: what grows there, how dry things get, and what the weather does.

Elevation and slope from the USGS 3D Elevation Program; fuel type and canopy cover from LANDFIRE (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), pulled Thursday, September 10th at 4:22 p.m. CDT.

When I roll up to someone's house that's clearly been hardened against wildfire, it's like a breath of fresh air. I know my chances of saving your home just went up dramatically.

A wildland firefighter, on Reddit

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Who's on it

This fire is small enough that no crew size or team has been posted yet. That's normal for a fire this size — those numbers show up once a fire is big enough to need a formal report.

Where to get live updates

We show the daily official picture. For minute-by-minute updates, evacuation orders, and maps, these do it best:

Nearby fires to Cottonwood Creek Fire

Within about 75 miles we're tracking 8 other active fires, closest first:

See all active fires in Montana →

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