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July 20, 2024 - Fires in Oregon and Idaho
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Soaring temperatures, lack of rain, and low humidity teamed up to create tinder-dry conditions in parts of the American West in mid-July 2024. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of fires in Idaho eastern Oregon on July 18.
Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.
The eastern-most fire is the Bench Lake Fire which is located in Custer County, Idaho. It was first reported on July 11 and the cause is under investigation. As of July 19, the fire has burned 2,037 acres and has reached 8 percent containment. Firefighters are not only fighting the fire aggressively but are surveying strategies ahead of the fire to protect the Sawtooth Wilderness area. The Associated Press reported that a helicopter went down early into the response effort but that the pilot survived and was able to hike to reach an ambulance.
All of the fires west of the Bench Lake Fire are located in Oregon. The largest is located in the southwest of the image and has two sets of hotspots, each located on the active edges of the massive fire. This is the Falls Fire, which was first reported on July 10 approximately 25 miles northwest of Burns, Oregon in the Malheur National Forest. As of July 19, it has grown to 114,236 acres and has reached 10 percent containment, according to InciWeb Incident Information System. More than 1,500 personnel are fighting the fire, which is listed as human-caused. The ignition is under investigation.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported that on July 19 there were 61 large fires active in the United States. Fourteen of those were located in Oregon and two were in Idaho. A large fire is defined as any wildland fire in timber over 100 acres or greater, or 300 acres or greater in grasslands/rangeland, or has an Incident Management Team assigned to it.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/18/2024
Resolutions:
1km (79.5 KB), 500m (264.1 KB), 250m (776.7 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Soaring temperatures, lack of rain, and low humidity teamed up to create tinder-dry conditions in parts of the American West in mid-July 2024. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of fires in Idaho eastern Oregon on July 18.
Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.
The eastern-most fire is the Bench Lake Fire which is located in Custer County, Idaho. It was first reported on July 11 and the cause is under investigation. As of July 19, the fire has burned 2,037 acres and has reached 8 percent containment. Firefighters are not only fighting the fire aggressively but are surveying strategies ahead of the fire to protect the Sawtooth Wilderness area. The Associated Press reported that a helicopter went down early into the response effort but that the pilot survived and was able to hike to reach an ambulance.
All of the fires west of the Bench Lake Fire are located in Oregon. The largest is located in the southwest of the image and has two sets of hotspots, each located on the active edges of the massive fire. This is the Falls Fire, which was first reported on July 10 approximately 25 miles northwest of Burns, Oregon in the Malheur National Forest. As of July 19, it has grown to 114,236 acres and has reached 10 percent containment, according to InciWeb Incident Information System. More than 1,500 personnel are fighting the fire, which is listed as human-caused. The ignition is under investigation.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported that on July 19 there were 61 large fires active in the United States. Fourteen of those were located in Oregon and two were in Idaho. A large fire is defined as any wildland fire in timber over 100 acres or greater, or 300 acres or greater in grasslands/rangeland, or has an Incident Management Team assigned to it.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/18/2024
Resolutions:
1km (79.5 KB), 500m (264.1 KB), 250m (776.7 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
