The Aqua satellite captured this natural color image of the Pioneer Fire currently burning northeast of Boise, Idaho. The fire began on July 18th and the cause of the fire is currently unknown. This image taken by Aqua’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument was collected on July 21, 2016. Over 300 hundred firefighters continue to battle the fire, which has grown to 1,300 acres as of July 21.
Smoke billowing from the fire can be seen from Boise, Idaho City, Centerville and Pioneerville and as far north as Cascade and McCall. The Fire is burning in a northern direction and at this time, there are no structures in imminent danger. Weather is a contributing factor to the fire being sustainable as it is currently hot and dry in the area with low relative humidity.
The actively burning area, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb