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Fires Burning in Oregon

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the U.S. west and captured an image of heat from several fires and their plumes of smoke in Oregon.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard Aqua has infrared capabilities that can detect heat from the various wildfires. The image was captured on July 9, 2012 at 21:40 UTC (5:40 p.m. EDT). In the MODIS images, fires, or hot spots are color coded as red areas in imagery and smoke appears in light brown. Images are generated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

According to the Associated Press, a fire east of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument has burned 290 acres and there is a 2,800-acre wildfire located west of Frenchglen.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages lands in eastern Oregon and reported three fires near Brogan, Oregon. The Bonita Fire has consumed 900 acres, the Iron Fire has burned over 1,000 acres and the North Ridge Bully Creek Fire has consumed over 500 acres.

The Long Draw fire is located in the southeastern corner of Oregon, 20 miles south of Burns Junction and north of McDermitt, Nevada. As of July 10, it has consumed about 45,000 acres. The BLM reported "erratic winds pushed the fire over control lines and forced the evacuation of Oregon Department of Transportation Basque Station located on Highway 95." KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho reported that the BLM believes the fire was ignited by lightning on July 8. For more information about the eastern Oregon wildfires on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, visit: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/vale/newsroom/files/Fires_Increase.pdf.

For a larger, unlabeled image: http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/imagery/single.cgi?image=Oregon.A2012191.2140.1km.jpg

Image: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team; Caption: Rob Gutro, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center