August 15, 2021 - Fires and smoke continue in British Columbia
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Fires in Canada
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Fueled by three heat waves, strong winds, and dry vegetation, a
ferocious fire season continued in British Columbia through mid-August
2021. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC), temperatures
continued to climb in British Columbia in the third heat wave of the
summer. Temperatures rose to mid- to high-30˚C (approximately 95-101˚F)
in the province on August 12 and winds began to pick up—both driving
increased fire activity. The high daytime temperatures have translated
to continued heat through the night, resulting in continued fire
behavior overnight. This reduces firefighters’ ability to take
advantage of the typical evening cool-off to make headway on active
blazes.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of dozens of fires
burning in southern British Columbia on August 12. Each red “hotspot”
marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high
temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such
hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fires. The strength and
unpredictability of the wind is written in the smoke. In some areas,
the gray plumes blow strongly to the southeast from the hotspot, while
in other locations the direction is more southerly. Smoke from other
fires reach southwestward, while in one large area of dense smoke the
plumes appear to crisscross. Such strong, variable winds not only push
fire growth into fresh vegetation, but it makes fighting the fire much
more difficult as the direction shifts.
On August 12, approximately 270 fires were reported burning in British
Colombia, with more than 50 evacuation orders in place and over 100
evacuation alerts posted, according to CBC. The BC Wildfire Service
reported 12 new fires had started on August 12. One ignited from a
natural cause and the other 11 were human-caused. As of that date,
there were 1,502 fires reported in British Columbia for the year and
671,385 acres burned.
Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/12/2021
Resolutions: 1km (472.1 KB), 500m (1.5 MB), 250m (4.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-08-15
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