California and Oregon Fires Still Blazing (IMAGE)
Caption
Smoke is still spewing from the Klondike and Natchez fires both of which began from lightning strikes on July 15, 2018 in Oregon and California. Over 1000 lightning strikes landed in southwest Oregon in the middle of July 2018. Initial attack resources caught 98 percent of the new starts. The Klondike fire was one that was not able to be caught. This fire, located nine miles northwest of Selma, OR, has been blazing for over two months now and the containment level on the 154,663 acres is at 72%. The dry windy weather is causing active fire behavior and intensive fuel consumption on the interior of the Klondike Fire. The fire's size increased by 7,600 acres yesterday, as fire spread through unburned areas well within containment lines. Poor humidity recovery will enable active fire growth to continue in the night hours. Fire activity is expected to be ground fire with torching trees, and minimal spotting. Between 400-600 acres of growth expected overnight. Full containment is not expected until October 31.
The Natchez fire which also began from those infamous strikes on July 15 is also a two plus month fire. This fire is located 8 miles northwest of Happy, California. This fire is much smaller than the Klondike fire but is nevertheless difficult to contain. Currently this fire is at 36,060 acres and is 82% contained. The Natchez fire has the potential to spread south, out of the Siskiyou Wilderness and also west further into the wilderness. There is 15-20 miles of uncontained fire perimeter, on the southwest section of the fire. Weather concerns for this blaze include prevailing dry conditions with upslope winds developing in the afternoons with no rain forecast through Thursday.
This image of the two fires was collected by NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application which provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks "right now. This satellite image was collected on September 25, 2018. Actively burning fires, detected by thermal bands, are shown as red points.
Credit
Image Courtesy: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Caption: Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.
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