Weather cooperated over the weekend helping out the firefighters battling the Pioneer Fire in Idaho. Lower temperatures and lighter winds enabled the firefighters to construct a considerable amount of fire lines and to battle the fire directly. The highest priority (other than protecting human life and structures) is protecting the Elk Creek Watershed, the water source for the community of Idaho City. Crews will utilize natural and man-made features including burn scars, vegetation treatments, terrain features, and other strategies to confine, contain, and suppress the fire the greatest probability of success exists.
The Pioneer fire began on July 18th and the cause of the fire remains unknown. The current size of the fire is 3,528 however that size may increase or decrease when more accurate mapping occurs. This fire is producing a very large column of smoke that can be seen in many parts of the state.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite collected this natural-color image on July 22, 2016. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.