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July 30, 2025 - Fires in Arizona and Utah
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Sizzling temperatures, historically low humidity, and strong winds have proven to be a potent mix for aggressive fire growth in the American West. On July 28, 2025, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of two large, active fires, one blazing in Utah and one in Arizona.
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. In this case, the winds are so strong and expand over such a large area that heavy smoke blows strongly northeastward from both wildfires.
The most southerly fire is the Dragon Bravo Fire burning on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It ignited from a lightning strike on July 4. On July 12, sustained winds of 20 miles per hour and gusts of up to 40 miles per hour spurred extreme and volatile fire behavior which resulted in the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and numerous historic buildings, despite the earnest efforts of firefighters. By July 29, the Dragon Bravo Fire had expanded to cover 71,000 acres and was 9 percent contained according to InciWeb Incident Information System.
The large fire in the north is the Monroe Canyon Fire. It was first reported on the morning of July 13 about 3 miles to the east of Monroe, Utah. It has been exhibiting active to extreme fire behavior with torching, wind driven runs and spotting observed in heavy, mixed, continuous conifer fuels and thick brush fuels, according to InciWeb. The fire has expanded to 31,811 acres as of July 29, with 11 percent containment. The Monroe Fire continues to spread to the north toward Bear Valley threatening structures, power lines & Hwy 24. The cause of this fire is listed as undetermined.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/28/2025
Resolutions:
1km (155.3 KB), 500m (519.3 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Sizzling temperatures, historically low humidity, and strong winds have proven to be a potent mix for aggressive fire growth in the American West. On July 28, 2025, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of two large, active fires, one blazing in Utah and one in Arizona.
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. In this case, the winds are so strong and expand over such a large area that heavy smoke blows strongly northeastward from both wildfires.
The most southerly fire is the Dragon Bravo Fire burning on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It ignited from a lightning strike on July 4. On July 12, sustained winds of 20 miles per hour and gusts of up to 40 miles per hour spurred extreme and volatile fire behavior which resulted in the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and numerous historic buildings, despite the earnest efforts of firefighters. By July 29, the Dragon Bravo Fire had expanded to cover 71,000 acres and was 9 percent contained according to InciWeb Incident Information System.
The large fire in the north is the Monroe Canyon Fire. It was first reported on the morning of July 13 about 3 miles to the east of Monroe, Utah. It has been exhibiting active to extreme fire behavior with torching, wind driven runs and spotting observed in heavy, mixed, continuous conifer fuels and thick brush fuels, according to InciWeb. The fire has expanded to 31,811 acres as of July 29, with 11 percent containment. The Monroe Fire continues to spread to the north toward Bear Valley threatening structures, power lines & Hwy 24. The cause of this fire is listed as undetermined.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/28/2025
Resolutions:
1km (155.3 KB), 500m (519.3 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
