Gilbert Fire

Harding County, South Dakota · Wildfire

Active Official numbers updated Sep 13, 2026 (about 2 hours ago)
First reported today
Metric Now
Size
211 acres
Sep 13, 3:00 PM
Containment —
Crew size —
Money spent —

Gilbert Fire and other nearby fires

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

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Gilbert Fire summary

The Gilbert Fire is a wildfire near Harding County, South Dakota. It has burned about 211 acres (about 160 football fields). It's a brand-new fire, first reported today. We're also tracking 1 other active fire within about 75 miles.

Size
211 acres
Containment
Not yet reported
Discovered
September 13, 2026 (first reported today)
Cause
Not reported

The size and containment above are current as of Sunday, September 13th at 3:00 p.m. CDT.

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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

71°F · Sunny

Wind 25 to 31 mph SE · 1% chance of rain

Wind: High wind Heat: Cool Dry

Tonight

52°F · Mostly Cloudy then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms

Wind 22 to 30 mph SE · 37% chance of rain

Wind: High wind Heat: Cool Some rain

Monday

70°F · Slight Chance Rain Showers then Mostly Sunny

Wind 22 to 41 mph W · 18% chance of rain

Wind: High wind Heat: Cool Dry

Monday Night

45°F · Mostly Clear

Wind 14 to 36 mph NW · 0% chance of rain

Wind: High wind Heat: Cool Dry

Tuesday

71°F · Sunny

Wind 6 to 13 mph N · 0% chance of rain

Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Dry

Forecast from the National Weather Service (weather.gov), pulled Sunday, September 13th at 3:03 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.

1° slope

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

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.

3,054 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 Sunday, September 13th at 1:05 p.m. CDT.

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 Gilbert Fire

Within about 75 miles we're tracking 1 other active fire, closest first:

See all active fires in South Dakota →

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