The Silvertip fire in Flathead, Montana began July 24 and has burned 4,126 acres with no containment as of the report date. 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
- 6,272 acres
- Containment
- 0%
- 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 (Flathead, 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
Flathead, Montana · ≈ 9.7 sq mi reported extent · Enable JavaScript to explore the map.
2026-08-05 21:33 UTC · ≈ 9.7 sq mi · snapshot 4 of 4
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.
- 6,272 acres ±0 0% contained
- 6,272 acres ±0 0% contained
- 6,272 acres +76 0% contained
- 6,196 acres ±0 0% contained
- 6,196 acres ±0 1% contained
- 6,196 acres +167 0% contained
- 6,029 acres +1,341 0% contained
- 4,688 acres +546 0% contained
Show 5 earlier observations
- 4,142 acres ±0 0% contained
- 4,142 acres ±0 0% contained
- 4,142 acres ±0 0% contained
- 4,142 acres +16 0% contained
- 4,126 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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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
Silvertip Fire
The Silvertip Fire was started by lightning in the Spotted Bear Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest, approximately 15 miles southeast of Spotted Bear Ranger Station, near Silvertip Mountain. The fire was detected by aircraft on July 24, 2026 while conducting recon on another reported fire. The fire is burning in heavy timber on steep slopes with standing dead and down trees.A Forest Closure is in place for several trails in the fire area for public and firefighter safety: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/flathead/alertsReconnaissance flights continue over the fire as conditions allow. Aircraft are navigating challenging inversion layers, which may delay fire mapping and operational updates. Ground access remains difficult in the remote wilderness and firefighters prioritize initial attack to reduce the number of fires on the landscape.
Updates are captured automatically from official and news sources, and may lag the live source. For the very latest, see NASA EONET ↗.