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Wildfires Continue to Beleaguer the U.S. Western States

Washington, Montana, Idaho fires still burning
Wildfires continue to plague several states in the West.

Wildfires continue to plague several states in the West. In this image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies onboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, fires can be seen in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The image was captured on September 28, 2015. The multiple red pixels are heat signatures (red), when accompanied by smoke as in this image, it is indicative of fire activity. The smoke appears to be a light gray color.

The fires in the states include the Kaniksu, the Grizzly Complex and the Little Joe fires.

The Kaniksu fire consists of the following fires: Tower, Baldy, Onata, Grease Creek, Hall Mountain, Slate Creek, and South Fork Slate Creek Trail. This complex of fires began on August 11, 2015 with a lightning strike. During the course of the fire’s activity it grew to 26,120 acres and is now 85% contained. Local communities and forest visitors throughout northeast Washington should expect to see interior smoke and road closures in many locations, as most remaining fires are expected to continue burning until steady rain or snow finally extinguishes them.

The Grizzly Complex of 16 fires in Idaho started on August 10, 2015 with lightning strikes. These fires have since been contained or grown together and now consist of 3 large and 2 medium fires. Despite cooler temperatures and occasional rain, many fires are still actively burning across north Idaho. The Grizzly Complex has burned approximately 19,000 acres this year resulting in several road and area closures in the area. Although the fire has not destroyed any structures, it did burn into the Settler’s Grove of Ancient Cedars causing significant damage to many of the trees.

The Little Joe fire, which began as a lightning strike on August 27, is located seven miles southwest of St. Regis, Montana and is 207 acres in size. Over the last five days containment grew drastically. There are no current evacuations. Weather is contributing to the fire’s demise as well as rain is forecasted for the rest of the week with highs in the 50s and lows hovering around 40 degrees.

InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident information management system that coordinates with federal, state and local agencies to manage wildfires.

For updates on all fires, visit the InciWeb website: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov.

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