Rhode Island Fire Map: Track RI Wildfires Live in 2026

A Rhode Island fire map covers the country's smallest state, where wildfires are usually brush fires of a few acres — except in April 2023, when a fire near Exeter burned roughly 350 acres and forced evacuations, the state's largest since 1942. This guide explains where and when Rhode Island burns and how to track it.

What does a Rhode Island fire map show right now?

A Rhode Island 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.

Rhode Island is the smallest state by area, and its wildfires match that scale most years. The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) counted 75 wildfires statewide in 2024, and 41 of them clustered in a single five-week stretch that fall — a pattern of many small, closely spaced ignitions rather than one sustained megafire.

That makes a live map useful in a specific way here: separating a permitted brush pile or a DEM prescribed burn from an unplanned fire that is actually spreading, especially during the dry spring and fall windows when smoke near a forested preserve can mean either.

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 or other non-wildfire heat sources.

When is Rhode Island's wildfire season?

Rhode Island's fire weather season runs in two windows tied to when trees are bare and fuels cure: February 15 through April 30 in spring, and October 1 through December 15 in fall, matching the period when National Weather Service Red Flag Warnings are typically issued for the region.

Fall 2024 showed how severe that second window can get. Rhode Island logged 75 wildfires for the year, with 41 of them between October 18 and November 19 alone — more than nine times the four fires reported over the same stretch in 2023 — during the region's third-driest fall since 1904.

State Fire Marshal Timothy McLaughlin summed up the shift plainly: "I don't know that we've seen a drought like this in a real long time, so brush fires have never been as prevalent as they are now," he told the Boston Globe, adding that carelessness — improperly discarded cigarettes and even a social media trend involving burning paper — drove most starts, with no suspected arson identified.

Rhode Island's brush-fire fall pattern echoes what we describe in our wildfire map guide, which covers how drought and green-up timing shift fire risk regionally, and it contrasts with the summer-driven season on the North Carolina fire map, where spring is the dominant peak instead.

Which agencies fight wildfires in Rhode Island?

DEM's Division of Forest Environment runs the state's Forest Fire Program, led by State Forester TeeJay Boudreau, and coordinates fire danger monitoring, prescribed burns, mutual aid and wildland firefighter training statewide. Rhode Island counts 70 rural fire departments across its 39 cities and towns.

Local and municipal fire departments handle initial attack on the ground, with DEM providing technical support, additional personnel and equipment when a fire outgrows local capacity. In FY2025, DEM issued 60 Volunteer Fire Capacity grants and trained 95 firefighters, including incident command courses.

For the largest incidents, Rhode Island can call on the Rhode Island National Guard, which flew UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters carrying water buckets during the 2023 Exeter fire, and on mutual aid from neighboring states — Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine crews all responded to that fire.

Where do Rhode Island wildfires usually burn?

DEM's Division of Forest Environment reports 354,931 acres of forest land statewide, most of it in the western half of Rhode Island. The state manages roughly 433,000 acres of private land under state fire protection, concentrated around large tracts like Arcadia and George Washington Management Areas.

Western Rhode Island — Exeter, West Greenwich, Coventry, Burrillville and the surrounding Arcadia and Big River areas — carries the heaviest fuel load, worsened by dead standing timber left behind by a 2015-2017 spongy moth defoliation event and repeated drought years since.

That is also where the state's most serious modern fires have started: the April 2023 fire began in the Queen's River Preserve in Exeter, a day after a smaller fire in neighboring West Greenwich, and DEM's own 1942 record fire burned across West Greenwich, Coventry and Exeter — the same corner of the state, eight decades apart.

What are the largest wildfires in Rhode Island history?

DEM does not publish a ranked list of Rhode Island's largest wildfires, and this guide will not invent one. Two fires are verifiable from news coverage and DEM's own comparisons: an unnamed 1942 fire that remains the state's record, and the April 2023 Exeter fire that became the largest since.

For scale, NIFC recorded 77,850 wildfires and 5,131,474 acres burned nationwide in 2025 — the entire 2023 Exeter fire would be a rounding error in a single large Western incident. Pat McMeekin, DEM's forest fire program manager at the time, said of the 2023 season: "We're always prepared for the worst-case scenario. But these fires caught us by surprise."

How does Rhode Island rate wildfire danger?

DEM's Wildfire Danger Report uses the National Fire Danger Rating System, the same framework federal and most state agencies use, to publish a daily danger level for Rhode Island based on recent weather, fuel moisture and forecast conditions.

DEM layers a Planning Level system on top of the daily rating to set statewide restrictions. When conditions reach the highest planning stage, DEM has issued outdoor fire bans covering all state campgrounds, parks and management areas — banning campfires, charcoal grills and cooking fires while still allowing propane or gas stoves and lanterns in designated spots.

DEM Chief of Agriculture and Forestry Ken Ayars put the risk in blunt terms after the 2023 season: "It's not hard to imagine this type of situation happening," he said, describing how repeated drought and standing dead timber from insect damage had primed the state's western forests to burn.

How did the 2023 Exeter fire change Rhode Island?

The fire that became known for burning Queen's River Preserve started on Friday, April 14, 2023, a day after a smaller fire broke out in neighboring West Greenwich that the McKee administration described as three to four times smaller. Investigators believe it began at a campsite, with ATV use in the preserve — where both camping and vehicles are prohibited — also considered a possible spark.

Initial estimates put the fire at roughly 700 acres before DEM settled on a final figure near 350 acres, still enough to make it Rhode Island's largest wildfire since 1942. About 200 firefighting personnel worked the fire, backed by Rhode Island National Guard Black Hawk helicopters dropping water from suspended buckets — the same tactic used a day earlier in West Greenwich.

DEM has since pointed to the fire as a turning point for its prescribed fire program: the agency treated 130 acres of state land with prescribed burns in 2024, nearly tripling its 2023 total, and conducted a further 12 prescribed burns covering more than 100 acres in 2025, aimed at reducing the dead-wood fuel loads that helped the Exeter fire grow.

How do burn permits work in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island law requires a written permit from the DEM director or an authorized representative before burning flammable material on or adjacent to forest land. Whoever sets or maintains a permitted fire is responsible for completely extinguishing it before leaving the site.

DEM issues outdoor fire bans at state-owned campgrounds, parks and management areas whenever wildfire danger climbs, covering campfires, charcoal fires and cooking fires; during a ban, campers and park visitors may still use portable propane or gas stoves and lanterns in designated areas.

Because Rhode Island is so compact, a single dry spell can push danger levels up statewide at once, rather than county by county as in larger states — which is part of why DEM leans on prescribed fire and brush-clearing projects, like one at Big River Management Area, to reduce fuel loads before the next dry stretch arrives.

How do evacuations work in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island does not use a Ready-Set-Go or numbered evacuation-level system. Unlike some neighboring states that rely only on informal alerts, Rhode Island has issued plain evacuation orders for specific roads during its most serious recent fire, with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) coordinating notifications and shelter support alongside local police and fire officials.

During the 2023 Exeter fire, residents on Purgatory Road, Locus Valley Court, Locus Valley Road, Quail Hollow Drive and a stretch of Route 102 were asked to evacuate, with a shelter opened first at the Exeter Public Library and later moved to Exeter-West Greenwich High School as the fire grew. The order was lifted once crews reached 80 percent containment.

If you live near forested western Rhode Island, RIEMA recommends signing up for local emergency alerts and following instructions from your town's police or fire department directly; officials also ask residents to stay away from active fire areas and avoid flying drones, since low-flying firefighting helicopters share that same airspace.

How do you track a Rhode Island fire in under a minute?

Given how quickly a Rhode Island brush fire can grow from a few acres to several hundred, checking a live map takes less time than driving toward a smoke column to see for yourself.

1. Open the live fire map and filter to Rhode Island, or use "fires near me" to list incidents within a set distance of your location.
2. Check the probability tier. A low tier with no linked NIFC record during a scheduled burn window often means a DEM prescribed fire rather than an emergency.
3. Compare "Last NIFC update," "Last satellite heat" and "Last GOES heat" — fresh heat with no official record yet is worth a second look, especially in western Rhode Island.
4. Check acres and containment, and note whether a Red Flag Warning is in effect for southern New England.
5. Sign up for RIEMA alerts and your town's own notification system, since Rhode Island can and does issue road-specific evacuation orders.
6. Use the directions-away links if you need to leave quickly, and follow instructions from local police and fire officials over any other source.

Our fire tracker near me guide explains how the "fires near me" filter and proximity alerts work, and the current wildfires guide covers how to read containment and personnel numbers on any incident nationwide.

Smoke from even a few-hundred-acre Rhode Island fire can settle over nearby towns for days, especially from fires smoldering in deep organic soil. 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's worth checking a live AQI source if you can see or smell smoke.

FAQ about the Rhode Island fire map