Lightning started four large wildfires in central Idaho last week. After igniting on August 8, the Elk and Pony Complex Fires both grew rapidly on August 10, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image. Red outlines the fire area as detected by MODIS.
The Elk Complex Fire appears to have generated a large pyrocumulus cloud, clouds formed by fire-heated air that rises rapidly into the atmosphere. The photo, originally published on the Elk Complex Incident site shows the white cloud rising above the smoke plume on the afternoon of August 10. The Elk Complex Fire threatened hundreds of homes and forced evacuations in the small community of Prairie and in the Pine-Featherville region. By the afternoon of August 12, the fire had burned 90,249 acres of grass, brush, and conifer stands.
The Pony Complex Fire also forced evacuations in the community of Mayfield and Canyon Creek. Burning through grass, sagebrush, and timber, this fire was 119,543 acres in size by August 12. It is 20 percent contained and has a high potential for growth.
The McCan and Beaver Creek fires were initially grouped together in the Beaver Creek Complex, but fire fighters quickly divided the two to simplify management. Both fires are burning in difficult terrain. The McCan fire has burned 23,860 acres since starting on August 7. The Beaver Creek fire started on August 9 and has burned 24,120 acres. Both fires have shown extreme fire activity.
Combined the four fires have burned more than 400 square miles (257,772 acres) since August 7th, 1,724 firefighters are working to control or manage the fires.
The smoke being generated by these fires is having a toll. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Public Health warned residents of central Idaho, included the populated areas around Boise and Twin Falls, that air quality had reached unhealthy levels.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Photo courtesy of InciWeb. Caption by Holli Riebeek. Instrument: Aqua - MODIS