Fires in the United States
Fires in Oregon and Northern California
23 September 2008
A pair of fires in Oregon grew more than 9,000 combined acres between 18 and 19 September 2008, according to the National Interagency Fire Center on 19 September. The Lonesome Fire was the larger of the two, at an estimated 15,500 acres; the Rattle Complex was only slightly smaller, at 14, 227 acres. Meanwhile, to the south, the Klamath Complex, parts of which had been burning since the first week of summer, had grown to affect more than 187,000 acres. This image of the fires was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite on 18 September. Places where the sensor detected actively burning fire are outlined in red.
AQUA
18 September 2008
The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel.
(source: earth observatory)
Cool, wet weather helps crews on Ore. fires
22 September 2008
published by www.oregonlive.com
Widespread rainfall in Oregon has some firefighters celebrating.
“That big clunk you heard Sunday morning was the end of fire season,” said Matt Reidy, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest’s fire management officer. “We just got nailed. And it was a nice, slow, gentle rain that really soaked in. Exactly what we needed.”
Lightning had touched off fires in Eastern Oregon on Friday.
But the weekend rains were plentiful enough for Reidy to tell the Baker City Herald that as soon as things dry out a bit, attention would now turn to setting fires prescribed burning to thin forests and make them healthier.
“We’ll be looking forward to a good prescribed burning season this fall,” he said.
Elsewhere in Oregon:
The Royce Butte Fire on the Deschutes National Forest was contained. Last week, it sent residents from their homes hear Crescent along Oregon 58.
The Doubleday Fire that burned to within 1.5 miles of the Southern Oregon town Butte Falls also was declared contained on Sunday.
Cool, wet weather moved over the Lonesome Complex fire that burned a finger into the Crater Lake National Park, but firefighters reported it’s still advancing.
Progress was reported against the persistent Gnarl fire on Mount Hood. Mountain subdivision homes remain evacuated, but firefighters said they’ve drawn longer lines around the timbered area that burned for weeks, subsided and then flared again in hot, dry weather.
The weather also helped firefighters dealing with the Rattle Fire burning mostly in the Boulder Creek Wilderness east of Roseburg. Oregon 138, which was closed last week, was reopened.
