August 25, 2021 - Scorching Western Fire Season Continues

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A wild and wicked western wildfire season continued through late August
2021 as dozens of fires charred the landscape and pumped heavy smoke
into the atmosphere. Although rainfall in Washington, Idaho, and
Montana over the last week has helped drop the number of blazes in
those states, hot, dry weather and heavy winds kept Southern Oregon and
Northern California under siege.

On August 24, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
on board NASA’s Terra satellite captured a true-color scene of fire and
smoke across the Western United States. 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.

While several hot spots are scattered across the region, the largest
fires—which are also the largest smoke producers—are located in
California. According to CAL FIRE, as of the morning of August 24, over
14,100 firefighters remain on the frontlines of 12 active large
wildfires that have burned over 1.54 million acres. Wildfire Today
reported that the largest producers of smoke in California include
Monument, River, McCash, Antelope, Dixie, and Caldor.

The most southerly of the large fires, sitting east of Sacramento and
close to the Nevada border, is the Caldor Fire. Though initially small,
the fire exploded in size on August 16 as winds picked up, forcing
thousands of people from their homes and destroying much of the town of
Grizzly Flats. As of the evening of August 24, it had grown to 122,980
acres and had reached 11 percent containment, according to Cal Fire.

The largest fire is the Dixie Fire. It ignited on July 13, according to
InciWeb Incident Information System above the Cresta Dam, Feather River
Canyon. It is burning on the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National
Forest, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and in four counties: Butte,
Lassen, Plumas, and Tehama. As of the evening of August 24, it has
burned 733,475 acres and is 43 percent contained. InciWeb notes that
the Dixie Fire has resulted in structure damage, evacuation orders, and
evacuation warnings. Many roads are closed, as are the national
forests. Air quality in the nearby communities has been unhealthy due
to smoke. The Dixie Fire has claimed the title of the second-largest
fire recorded in California, second only to the August Complex of fires
which burned 1,033,648 acres in August of 2020. The cause of both the
August Complex and the Dixie Fire remain under investigation.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 8/23/2021
Resolutions: 1km (538.2 KB), 500m (1.8 MB), 250m (5.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-08-25

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