The Elder 1 fire started July 24 in the Missoula area and has burned 923 acres with no containment yet. Homes in the affected area face direct fire damage risk.
Overview written from official NASA EONET and National Interagency Fire Center/IRWIN data.
- Type
- Wildfires
- Official size
- 1,235 acres
- Containment
- 100%
- Cause
- Natural
- Began
- Status
- Ongoing
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Affected area map
The shaded area is the affected-area perimeter reported for this event by NASA EONET (Missoula, Montana), colored by hazard type. Pan and zoom to explore the map; when more than one observation exists, use the slider below to step through how the reported area changed.
Interactive affected-area map
Missoula, Montana · ≈ 1.9 sq mi reported extent · Enable JavaScript to explore the map.
2026-08-04 23:47 UTC · ≈ 1.9 sq mi · snapshot 6 of 6
View the timeline — how the reported area changed
Official size & containment
Official incident size and containment reported through NIFC / IRWIN, as we observed it. Newest first.
- 1,235 acres ±0 100% contained
- 1,235 acres +1 100% contained
- 1,234 acres ±0 93% contained
- 1,234 acres ±0 52% contained
- 1,234 acres +13 52% contained
- 1,221 acres ±0 40% contained
- 1,221 acres ±0 40% contained
- 1,221 acres ±0 40% contained
Show 5 earlier observations
- 1,221 acres +187 16% contained
- 1,034 acres +66 14% contained
- 968 acres ±0 14% contained
- 968 acres +45 14% contained
- 923 acres 0% contained
Shown as reported by our sources — not an official product. For current advisories and the authoritative map, see NASA EONET ↗.
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Fire damage restoration
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Water damage restoration
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Latest updates
Official updates and news coverage for this event, newest first — National Weather Service products, local storm reports, incident updates and press headlines. Official items are verbatim government text; news headlines link out to the original outlet.
- Incident update InciWeb
Elder 1 Fire
The Elder 1 Fire was detected in the Ninemile Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest, roughly 7 miles southwest of Frenchtown in the Rock Creek area on the afternoon of July 24, 2026. The lightning-caused fire is burning in heavy timber. The fire transitioned to a local Type 3 Incident Management Team at 1800 on 8/5/2026.
Updates are captured automatically from official and news sources, and may lag the live source. For the very latest, see NASA EONET ↗.