Right now

The most recent data we hold from NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) arrived 6 minutes ago, and this point is not in it. We record detections, not passes: an absence is not proof that nothing is there.

One other detection within 20 km in the last 24 hours, 16 km from here.

The satellite has seen heat at this spot on 61 earlier days since 10 February 2024, in 12 of the twelve months of the year. Heat that is there in every season usually comes from industry (a steelworks, a refinery flare, a gas field) or from routine burning, not from a wildfire. NASA's data do not say which.

13 satellite detections of this fire · 10 – 17 May 2026

A satellite sees a burning fire on each of its passes. This page gathers every detection of this fire; the address of each one leads here.

Day and time (UTC)	Radiative power	Distance from Big Spring
17 May 23:55	68 MW	22 km
16 May 23:55	77 MW	23 km
16 May 20:24	116 MW	28 km
16 May 18:46	104 MW	29 km
16 May 11:25	104 MW	29 km
15 May 23:57	104 MW	29 km
13 May 23:59	43 MW	22 km
12 May 23:59	46 MW	22 km
11 May 23:56	113 MW	26 km
11 May 22:23	90 MW	29 km
10 May 23:57	154 MW	24 km
10 May 20:38	101 MW	21 km
10 May 09:20	75 MW	20 km

Recorded by satellite 171 days ago.

A thermal anomaly is a snapshot of one satellite pass, not a record of a fire’s life: we cannot say whether it kept burning after that pass.

It is the 20th strongest of the 137 detections recorded within 20 km of this point since 10 February 2024. Another comparable one was recorded here earlier the same day. 7 more were recorded here in the fortnight before it.

What the source measured

NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) reported 28 fire pixels with a combined fire radiative power of 75 MW, at nominal confidence, 20 km from Big Spring.

The 28 pixels cover about 3.9 km² — that is the footprint of the detection grid at 375 m resolution, not an estimate of how much land burned.

FIRMS does not report burned area, and neither do we.

Urban PEI: 12,121 within a heuristic 35 km radius; not unique people.

How we know

One source: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS). Not yet confirmed by a second, independent source.

Our own score for this event is 30 out of 100.

This is our versioned heuristic index, not source severity or a calibrated probability. Urban PEI does not count unique people.

Computed under scoring rules v1. Rows carrying other versions were judged by different rules and are not directly comparable.

Archived as “High” under the rule in force until 4 October 2026, which read the radiative power and the people nearby. A satellite sees heat, not an emergency: since then every detection is shown as low or medium; this one as “Low”.

Series begins 8 March 2026 for live collection; the monthly chart also counts backfilled detections from 10 February 2024. Collection gap: 14-26 August 2026.

This data is aggregated algorithmically from scientific sources. Not a replacement for official emergency warnings.

Event data

Type	Persistent heat source
Severity	Low
Calamity Score (ours)	30 / 100
Legacy data-support index	0.74/1
Coordinates	32.3993, -101.6043
Nearest city	Big Spring (20 km)
Urban exposure index (PEI)	12.1K within 35 km
Impact tier	significant
Date	2026-05-10, time not reported by the source
Source	https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@-101.604,32.399,9z
Licence	US public domain (NASA) · NASA FIRMS (LANCE)

Physical priority index · v1. Heuristic priority, not calibrated probability, predictive accuracy or damage. The legacy data-support index combines assigned source support and field availability. Urban PEI is distance-weighted and does not count unique people; zero does not establish that nobody is present. Model cards.

Source and revision timeline

Source: firms. Occurrence: 2026-05-10, time not reported by the source.

First archived: 2026-05-10T09:20:41.895Z. Material modification: 2026-05-17T23:56:22.615Z.

Retained revisions are prospective; earlier versions may be unavailable. No revision entry does not prove that a record never changed.

Safety information

Heat shows up at this spot regularly, which usually means an industrial plant or routine burning rather than a wildfire. Nothing on this page is an alert. In a real emergency, follow local authorities.

In the news nearby

A list of links found by GDELT for this place and this hazard in the last seven days. External, not ours: we have not read them and do not vouch for them.

No news is listed: GDELT was not available when this page was rendered.

GDELT Project · gdeltproject.org

Brightness	354.61
Frp	75.49
PixelCount	28
Confidence	nominal

Persistent heat source near Big Spring