Current Wildfires in the United States of America
Wildfires in the United States of America
29 June 2016
Satellite-derived data on the number of active fires and area in the USA.
Wildland fires in the USA have already had a significant impact considering the early stage of the summer. As of 29 June 2016, there were 23 uncontained large fires burning and the YTD area burned reached well over 2 million acres (~900,000 ha). In addition several fatalities have occurred and over 356 structures have burned– mostly residences in California and New Mexico. The Erskine fire alone, in Lake Isabella CA has destroyed 257 structures, levelling entire streets.
Source: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf (PDF updated daily by the National Interagency Coordination Center)
This image of the Sherpa Fire burn scar near Santa Barbara Calif. was acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra on June 19, 2016. Vegetation-covered land is green in the false-color image, which includes both visible and infrared light. Patches of unburned forest are gray. Buildings, roads, and other developed areas appear white. The Sherpa Fire burned over 7,400 acres (~3,500 ha), destroyed 5 structures but is now 93% contained. The aerial picture below was captured by firefighting aircraft; it shows the start of the Sherpa Fire on 15 June 2016.
Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov (retrieved on 29 June 2016)
A wildfire burning by Lake Isabella outside Bakersfield, California, is the states largest so far in 2016, according to news reports. As of June 27, the Erskine fire had scorched 18,368 hectares (45,388 acres), destroyed at least 250 structures, and was responsible for at least two deaths. The image above shows the region at 3:34 a.m. Pacific Time on June 26, 2016. It was acquired with the day-night band (DNB) of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite. The DNB can detect relatively dim signals such as city lights and reflected moonlight, and in this case it also shows the glow of the fire.
Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov(retrieved on 29 June 2016).
On June 19, 2016, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite acquired this false-color image of the Cedar fire (top image), which burned in eastern Arizona. Near- and short-wave infrared help penetrate some of the smoke to reveal the hot spots associated with active fires, which appear red. Smoke appears gray-blue and burned areas appear rusty brown. The second image, shows the same scene in natural-color. As of June 29 the fire had burned the fire had burned45,995 acres (over 18,580 ha.) and was 90 percent contained.
Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov (retrieved on 29 June 2016).
Recent news from and about fires burning in the USA
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USA: Possible Human Remains Found in Aftermath of Deadly California Wildfire (published by http://www.nbcnews.com 25 June 2016)
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USA: Firefighting 747 Supertanker arrives in Seattle [VIDEO] (published by http://aircargoworld.com 24 June 2016)
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USA: New evidence that forest fires do not threaten spotted owls (published by http://phys.org 24 June 2016)
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USA/Global: Forest Fires Can Heat Up the Whole Planet (published by http://news.nationalgeographic.com 23 June 2016)
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USA: Stay Away Zone Declared for Baby Bald Eagle Nest in San Gabriel Complex Wildfire (published by www.nbclosangeles.com 23 June 2016)
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USA: Alarm over fire danger as California tree die-off hits 66 million (published by www.sfgate.com 22 June 2016)
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USA: Forest Service chief wants new way to pay for wildfires (published by www.statesmanjournal.com 21 June 2016)
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USA: Waterfowl Populations Resilient to Fires in the Western Boreal Forest (published by www.usgs.gov 21 June 2016)
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USA: California to Fire up Burners to Battle Dead Tree Epidemic (published by http://abcnews.go.com 19 June 2016)
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USA: As wildfire season heats up, CSU experts push for national smoke warning system (published by http://source.colostate.edu 17 June 2016)
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USA: Federal judge sides with OSF in insurance suit over wildfire smoke (published by www.mailtribune.com 14 June 2016)
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USA: GelTech Prepares for Western North America Wildland Fire Season (published by www.marketwired.com 14 June 2016)
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USA: Grass fire at Denver International Airport may have been sparked by plane that was taking off ( published by www.thedenverchannel.com 13 June 2016)
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USA: Federal agencies fight unauthorized drones over wildfires (published by www.ktvz.com 11 June 2016)
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Anctartica/USA: Antarctic lakes provide glimpse of ancient forest fires (published by www.colorado.edu 10 June 2016)
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USA/Russia: Russians visit Montana to learn firefighting systems, resources (published by www.greatfallstribune.com 07 June 2016)
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USA: Record-breaking heat to scorch western US, increase wildfire threat into next week (published by http://www.accuweather.com/ 03 June 2016)