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California’s Walker Fire Nearly Contained

Aqua image of the Walker Fire
California's Walker Fire located southwest of Honey Lake and near the Nevada border is 96 percent contained according to Inciweb on September 17, 2019.

California’s Walker Fire located southwest of Honey Lake and near the Nevada border is 96 percent contained according to Inciweb (an interagency all-risk incident information management system) on September 17, 2019. This very active fire has been burning since September 04, 2019 and its cause is still under investigation. The fire has consumed 54,518 acres and is the largest fire the state of California has experienced this year. There are close to 2,000 firefighters dealing with this blaze and the Walker Fire is now almost completely contained. There remains active isolated torching which is the ignition and flare-up of a tree or small group of trees, usually from bottom to top. The weather is a slight concern today (Sep. 17) with gusts to 25 mph, but showers and isolated thunderstorms are expected later and into the evening with lower temperatures. Two concerns are lightning which can cause new fires to start and continued strong winds with gusts up to 20 mph, according to Inciweb.

NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks “right now.” This Aqua natural-color satellite image was collected on Sep. 16, 2019. Actively burning fires, detected by thermal bands, are shown as red points using Suomi NPP’s VIIRS ​(Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument. Image Courtesy: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Caption: Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.