US Wildfire Tracker
Connecticut Fire Map: Track CT Wildfires Live in 2026
A Connecticut fire map covers a small, heavily forested state where most wildfires are under two acres — until they are not. In 2025 the state recorded 253 wildfires burning 546 acres, and the autumn 2024 Hawthorne Fire on Lamentation Mountain killed a firefighter and burned for weeks.
What does a Connecticut fire map show right now?
A Connecticut fire map fuses official NIFC incident records, NASA VIIRS and MODIS satellite heat, NOAA GOES detections and National Weather Service fire-weather alerts into one view. US Wildfire Tracker shows all four free in any browser, refreshing automatically every few minutes while the tab stays open.
Connecticut's fire signature is frequent, small ignitions rather than a handful of enormous ones. In 2025 the state's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) logged 253 wildfires totaling 546 acres — an average close to two acres per fire, because most starts are caught by local departments within hours.
That changes what a live map is actually useful for here. You are rarely watching a fire race toward a town; you are usually trying to tell a permitted brush pile from an escaped fire on a dry ridge, or checking whether the smoke you can see from your porch has an official record behind it yet.
US Wildfire Tracker scores each detection on whether an official NIFC record is linked, how fresh the perimeter is and how recent the satellite heat is. Weak signals below 25 percent probability are hidden by default, and the app states plainly that hotspots can reflect prescribed burns, debris fires or industrial heat.
When is Connecticut's wildfire season?
Connecticut's forestry division describes three wildland fire seasons: spring from mid-March to mid-May, summer from mid-May through September, and fall from October until snow cover returns. Spring, before tree canopies leaf out and shade the forest floor, is traditionally the period of highest fire danger statewide.
2024 broke that pattern. September and October brought roughly five times the normal number of brushfires during the driest two-month stretch the state had measured in 120 years, culminating in the Hawthorne Fire in late October — well outside the traditional spring peak.
2025's early season ran hot too: DEEP's spring 2026 newsletter to fire departments notes that from January through April 2025, departments reported 155 fires burning about 385 acres, compared with 77 fires over the same months in 2024 — roughly double.
Connecticut's compressed, human-driven season looks different from the West's fuel-and-lightning-driven summers. Our North Carolina fire map guide describes a similar late-winter spring peak in the Southeast, while the wildfire tracking guide explains how satellite revisit rates affect how quickly small Northeast fires show up on a map.
Which agencies fight wildfires in Connecticut?
The DEEP Division of Forestry, through its Forest Protection Program, sets statewide fire danger ratings, issues advisories and coordinates suppression support across Connecticut's 179 cities and towns. Two Fire Control Officers cover the western district and two cover the eastern district, backed by 15 district fire wardens.
Actual firefighting is almost entirely local. Connecticut counts 276 rural and volunteer fire departments, and DEEP's Forest Protection Program supported 38 of them with Volunteer Fire Capacity grants and trained 645 personnel in FY2025. DEEP's 24-hour dispatch center at 860-424-3333 coordinates statewide mutual aid and equipment when a local department needs help.
For major incidents, Connecticut can draw on the interagency Eastern Area Coordination Center, which manages wildland fire resources across 20 northeastern and Great Lakes states, and — as the Hawthorne Fire showed — the Connecticut National Guard, which flew helicopter water drops for the first time on a wildfire in roughly 30 years.
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| DEEP Division of Forestry | Statewide fire danger ratings, advisories, wildland fire reporting, reimbursement of local departments, hose and equipment support |
| Local and volunteer fire departments | Initial attack and suppression on the ground in all 179 towns |
| DEEP 24-hour Dispatch | Statewide mutual aid coordination, technical advice and additional personnel or equipment |
| Eastern Area Coordination Center | Interagency mobilization of crews and aircraft across the Northeast when local and state resources are exceeded |
| Connecticut National Guard | Helicopter water drops for large or extended incidents, on state request |
| Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) | State-level all-hazards coordination and support to local emergency management |
Where do Connecticut wildfires usually burn?
Connecticut is one of the most heavily forested states in the country, with forest and wildland covering roughly 60 percent of its land area. Most fires start in this mixed hardwood forest close to roads, trails and the wildland-urban interface, where people and ignition sources sit closest to fuel.
Litchfield County in the northwest hills and New Haven County have historically reported the most wildland fire events of any counties in the state, according to Natural Fire Incident Reporting System data compiled for Connecticut's hazard mitigation plan, with debris burning and unknown or incendiary causes the leading listed causes across most counties.
The 2024 Hawthorne Fire burned on Lamentation Mountain, a rocky, steep-sided trap-rock ridge on the Berlin-Meriden line — terrain typical of the state's most fire-prone landscape: thin soil over ledge, oak-hickory litter, and limited vehicle access for engines once a fire moves off a trailhead.
What are the largest wildfires in Connecticut history?
Connecticut's forestry division does not publish a ranked list of the state's largest wildfires by acreage, and this guide will not invent one. What is verifiable comes from two sources: a 2014 state hazard mitigation plan citing incident data back to 1991, and recent DEEP reporting on 2024 and 2025.
| Fire or period | Year | Acres | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide, October | 1997 | Over 300 | Described by the state as the only single incident to exceed 300 acres in the 15 years before the 2014 hazard mitigation plan was written |
| Hawthorne Fire, Lamentation Mountain | 2024 | 127 | Burned for weeks; one firefighter, Robert Sharkevich Sr., died; first Connecticut National Guard wildfire response in about 30 years |
| Statewide total | 2025 | 546 | 253 fires reported statewide, DEEP's most recent full-year statistic |
For scale, NIFC recorded 77,850 wildfires and 5,131,474 acres burned nationwide in 2025 — Connecticut's entire annual acreage would not register as a single large Western fire. The state's own 1991-2013 data put the average incident at 2.33 acres across 5,415 reported events, with "no significant property damages or human casualties" attributed to wildland fire before 2024.
How does Connecticut rate forest fire danger?
DEEP's Division of Forestry issues a daily Forest Fire Danger Rating using a National Fire Danger Rating System built on two indexes: a Spread Index, which measures how weather affects how fast a surface fire moves, and a Build Up Index, which tracks fuel moisture from recent precipitation.
The two indexes combine into five danger levels — Low, Moderate, High, Very High and Extreme — and DEEP emails the ratings daily to park staff, municipalities and fire departments through the spring fire season via a listserv, and posts them on its Forest Fire Danger Report page.
- Low
- Spread Index 0-10, Build Up Index 0-22
- Moderate
- Spread Index 11-15, Build Up Index 23-44
- High
- Spread Index 16-29, Build Up Index 45-59
- Very High
- Spread Index 30-39, Build Up Index 60-74
- Extreme
- Spread Index over 40, Build Up Index over 75
The rating has teeth: local burn permits within 100 feet of grassland or woodland are not valid on days DEEP rates danger High, Very High or Extreme. National Weather Service fire weather criteria sit on top of that danger rating.
The New York City forecast office, which covers Connecticut's southwestern shoreline counties, issues a Red Flag Warning when winds are sustained or gusting above 25 mph, relative humidity is under 30 percent, and rainfall has been under a quarter inch for three or more days in spring and fall, or five or more days plus a Keetch-Byram Drought Index above 300 in summer. Connecticut's other counties are covered by the Boston/Norton, Massachusetts and Albany, New York forecast offices.
How did the 2024 Hawthorne Fire change Connecticut?
The Hawthorne Fire started from a campfire on a cliff on Lamentation Mountain on the evening of October 21, 2024, during Connecticut's driest two-month stretch in 120 years of record-keeping. It grew to about 107 acres by October 25, when Governor Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency, and finished at roughly 127 acres across Berlin and Meriden after weeks of suppression work.
Wethersfield volunteer firefighter Robert Sharkevich Sr., 66, died on October 22 when the utility task vehicle he was riding in rolled over on a trail near the Meriden town line — the fire's only fatality, and by DEEP's own account one of the only fire-related deaths in recent Connecticut wildland fire history.
Connecticut is where "small fire" and "safe fire" stopped meaning the same thing to us. A 127-acre brush fire would barely register in most of the country, but it took a firefighter's life, needed National Guard helicopters for the first time in about thirty years, and burned through weeks most people assumed were past the fire season. We now treat every Connecticut detection as one that deserves a second look, not a smaller one.The US Wildfire Tracker team — builders of the wildfire-map.org live map and Chrome extension
No evacuation orders were issued during Hawthorne, even as it approached homes on Sea Green Drive and Giuffrida Park in Meriden; residents instead relied on CT Alert and town-level emergency notification systems while crews built containment lines. DEEP banned outdoor grills, firepits and campfires in state parks and forests for the duration of the response.
DEEP Deputy Commissioner Mason Trumble, who oversees the agency's Bureau of Natural Resources, called the damage significant but survivable: "There was damage to trail systems, damage to ecosystems, and wildlife concern. But, thankfully, our forests here in New England are very resilient," he said, according to New England Public Media. Connecticut also received federal wildfire response funding for the first time because of the season's scale.
How do burn permits work in Connecticut?
Connecticut's open burning season for brush normally runs from October 1 through April, though local officials can issue individual permits outside that window. Every municipality runs its own program, and residents need a signed permit from their town's Open Burning Official or fire marshal before burning.
Permitted open burning is limited to brush — shrubs, vegetation or prunings no more than three inches in diameter. Leaves, grass, construction debris and household trash may not be burned, and burning is not allowed for land clearing.
- Burning is allowed only between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a sunny or partly sunny day.
- Wind speed at the site must be between 5 and 15 mph — too little wind traps smoke, too much spreads embers.
- The area around the pile must be cleared, and a charged water hose must be on site.
- Burning may not proceed if it would push national or state air quality standards over their limits.
- A permit is void on any day DEEP rates statewide fire danger High, Very High or Extreme within 100 feet of grassland or woodland.
Connecticut has no single statewide burn ban mechanism comparable to some southern states; instead, the danger-rating override and each town's Open Burning Official function as the practical brakes on backyard burning.
How do evacuations work in Connecticut?
Connecticut does not use a formal Ready-Set-Go or numbered evacuation-level system for wildfire the way many Western states do. Evacuation decisions are made locally, by town fire chiefs, police and emergency management directors, with the state's Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) coordinating support rather than issuing the order itself.
During the Hawthorne Fire — Connecticut's most serious recent test of this system — officials chose not to issue formal evacuation orders even as the fire approached homes, instead pushing updates through CT Alert and each town's own notification system and asking residents near the fire to stay alert and follow local guidance.
That makes signing up for your town's alert system and CT Alert the single most useful evacuation step in Connecticut, since there is no statewide wildfire-specific alert level to watch for. If a fire does threaten your area, follow instructions from local police, fire officials or DEMHS rather than assuming a formal "order" will be issued before conditions turn dangerous.
How do you track a Connecticut fire in under a minute?
In a state where most fires stay under five acres, the question is less "how big" and more "is this the escaped one." A live map earns its keep by separating routine smoke from an actual incident quickly.
- Open the live fire map and filter to Connecticut, or use "fires near me" to list incidents within a set distance of your location.
- Check the probability tier. A low tier with no linked NIFC record on a fall or spring day often means a permitted brush burn rather than an emergency.
- Compare "Last NIFC update," "Last satellite heat" and "Last GOES heat" — fresh heat with no official record yet is the pattern worth watching closely.
- Check acres and containment, and note whether a Red Flag Warning or Fire Weather Watch is in effect for your county.
- Sign up for CT Alert and your town's own notification system, since Connecticut relies on local alerts rather than a statewide evacuation level.
- Use the directions-away links if you ever need to leave the area quickly, and follow instructions from local fire and police officials over any other source.
Our fire tracker near me guide explains how the "fires near me" filter and proximity alerts work in more detail, and the current wildfires guide covers how to read containment and personnel numbers on any incident nationwide.
Smoke is a secondary but real concern even from Connecticut's small fires: the Hawthorne Fire burned for weeks close to two towns, and brush and structure fires generally push fine particulate into the air near the fireline. On the EPA's Air Quality Index, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups starts at 101, and Unhealthy — where some of the general public may see health effects — starts at 151, so it is worth checking a live AQI source if you can see or smell smoke, even without a statewide alert in place.
FAQ about the Connecticut fire map
When is Connecticut's wildfire season?
DEEP describes three seasons: spring (mid-March to mid-May), summer (mid-May through September) and fall (October until snow cover). Spring is traditionally the highest-danger period, but the fall of 2024 proved fires can also spike outside that window during severe drought, as they did before and during the Hawthorne Fire.
How big was the Hawthorne Fire?
The Hawthorne Fire on Lamentation Mountain in Berlin and Meriden burned about 127 acres over several weeks in October and November 2024. It is small by national standards but notable in Connecticut because it caused the death of Wethersfield firefighter Robert Sharkevich Sr. and required the state's first National Guard wildfire helicopter response in roughly 30 years.
Do I need a permit to burn brush in Connecticut?
Yes, in nearly every town. Your local Open Burning Official or fire marshal must sign a permit before you burn brush, which is defined as vegetation up to three inches in diameter. The open burning season generally runs October 1 through April, burning is allowed only 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in 5-15 mph wind, and the permit is void on days DEEP rates fire danger High or above.
What is Connecticut's forest fire danger rating system?
DEEP issues a daily rating of Low, Moderate, High, Very High or Extreme, based on a Spread Index (how fast fire could move given current weather) and a Build Up Index (fuel dryness from recent rainfall). The rating is emailed to fire departments and posted online, and it directly controls whether burn permits near woodland are valid that day.
Does Connecticut use Ready-Set-Go evacuation levels?
No. Connecticut has no statewide numbered evacuation system for wildfire. Local fire chiefs, police and emergency managers decide when and how to notify residents, typically through CT Alert and town-specific systems, with the state's Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security in a coordinating role rather than issuing evacuation orders directly.
How many wildfires does Connecticut have each year?
DEEP recorded 253 wildfires burning 546 acres statewide in 2025. Early 2025 ran roughly double the pace of early 2024, with 155 fires and about 385 acres reported from January through April 2025 compared with 77 fires over the same months in 2024, reflecting an unusually active recent stretch.
Is US Wildfire Tracker an official Connecticut fire source?
No. It is a free live map that fuses NIFC incident records, NASA VIIRS and MODIS detections, NOAA GOES heat data and National Weather Service alerts, with no account required. Satellite detections can lag by minutes to hours, so always follow DEEP, your town fire department and CT Alert for official information and any evacuation guidance.
Track Connecticut fires in real time
Filter to Connecticut, compare the freshest satellite heat against any official NIFC record, and see National Weather Service fire-weather alerts over the same ground.