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Oklahoma’s Rhea Fire Shows No Sign of Slowing Down

Suomi NPP image of Rhea Fire in Oklahoma
The Rhea Fire, located 1/2 mile west of Rhea, Oklahoma, began on April 12, 2018. Its cause is currently unknown.

The Rhea Fire, located 1/2 mile west of Rhea, Oklahoma, began on April 12, 2018. Its cause is currently unknown. By April 20, 2018, the fire grew to 289,078 acres and is 25 percent contained. On Thursday the 19th, favorable weather conditions allowed firefighters to extinguish hotspots, flareups, and pockets of smoldering vegetation quickly and thoroughly. Firefighters are going into the burned area 50 feet or more from the fire line in an attempt to make sure the fire line is contained and all smoldering areas are put out. The weather outlook does not look favorable, however, with forecasters calling for strong southeast winds which could potentially cause additional fire growth.

An infrared flight on April 19 detected approximately 2,000 hotspots in the fire’s footprint. Although many of those areas of heat are well within the perimeter and do not threaten containment, some are close to fire lines and will need to be watched carefully. Currently no evacuation orders or road closures are in effect.

There are 213 personnel with the Southern States Type 1 Incident Management Team working alongside numerous local and state resources, including the Oklahoma National Guard.

The Suomi NPP satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument captured a look at the hotspots in Oklahoma on April 18, 2018. Actively burning areas, detected by VIIRS are outlined in red. When they are accompanied by smoke, the gray/white trailing column flowing southeast, they are indicative of fire. Also the dark brownish-red mark to the left of the hotspots that appears on the landscape is indicative of scorched earth where the Rhea fire has already burned out.

The Suomi NPP satellite is a joint mission between NASA and NOAA.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.