Scores of fires sprang up across Oregon over the last week as summer lightning storms passed over the state. This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on August 27, 2011, shows several large fires in central Oregon. The fires are outlined in red.
The fires on the right side of the image are part of the Hancock Complex. These fires started on August 24, and as of August 28, have burned 45,000 acres of grassland. Recently burned land is black. The large, smoky fires burning in or near the Cascade Mountains on the left have not yet been reported in the national fire incident information system. Local news reported more than 100 new lightning fires on August 26.
References & Resources
- InciWeb. (2011, August 28). Hancock Complex. Accessed August 29, 2011.
- Remote Sensing Applications Center. (2011, August 27). Fire detection map – August 27, 2011. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Accessed August 29, 2011.
- Terry, L. (2011, August 26). New fires flare up across Oregon amid new round of lightning strikes. The Oregonian. Accessed August 29, 2011.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
