August 2, 2019 - Milepost 97 Fire in Oregon

Thick smoke poured from the large Milepost 87 Fire, blanketing parts of southern Oregon and stretching into northern California in late July 2019. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the smoky inferno on July 28.

The Milepost 87 Fire was first spotted on the morning of July 24 about 1 mile south of Canyonville, Oregon. The fire sparked from human activity, possibly an illegal campfire, in dry, rugged terrain and is burning in an area with lots of large, standing dead trees and heavy brush on a steep hillside. Access for firefighters is reported to be “difficult” and was also burned by a massive fire in 1987.

High temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds hinder efforts to control the flames and have allowed rapid spread. As of the morning of August 1, more than 1,400 firefighting personnel have succeeded in containing 25 percent of the perimeter of the fire. At that time the Milepost 87 Fire had consumed 12,578 acres. Improved weather on July 31 allowed firefighters to move to save 3,000 acres of timber while fire growth was held to the lowest in a 24-hour period since the fire started.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 7/28/2019
Resolutions: 1km (25 KB), 500m (95.4 KB), 250m (337.2 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC