Park Fire from Space – 7/27/2024

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Today the European Space Agency’s Sentinel Satellite went over the Park Fire. This satellite passes over every 5 days, and has sensors which can see through smoke and detect heat. We use Sentinel data a lot in my day job for vegetation and fuel mapping, but during wildfires, especially on fires as large as the Park Fire, it can actually be operationally useful.

Here are images we created by enhancing the raw data from the satellite. Tones of blue and green show intact vegetation while brown tones are generally devoid of it. Flames and active fire show up in regular fire colors.


Active fire is seen on the NW edge of the fire, in the foothills around Hogsback Road,east of Red Bluff.

This image shows active fire backing down Inskip Hill, near Paynes Creek, and very limited heat on the northernmost tip of the fire, near Oasis Springs Lodge.
This view to the SE looks over Highway 36 toward Hogsback Road. Battle Creek is in the foreground.
This image shows the edge of the foothills, NW of Chico. No active flame is seen in the Valley, here.
This image shows intact forest canopy in the center of Cohasset Ridge. The Cal Fire station and school are in the center of this image. Extensive thinning and prescribed burning work has occurred along the leading edge of Mud Creek Canyon, on the right edge of the surviving vegetation, near the end of the Cal Fire station label on the map.
Bidwell Park and Highway 32. No active heat is visible below Forest Ranch.
Looking NE over Forest Ranch and Highway 32. Large areas of active flame are present below the rim of Big Chico Creek Canyon.
Looking at the Butte Meadows turnoff from Highway 32 (Lomo). View to NE. Large areas of active flame are present. The H-line is the boundary between Deer and Big Chico Creek watersheds. Clearcuts are on Sierra Pacific Industries timberlands.
Mixed-severity, but a lot of hot burn in Web Hollow and Campbell Creek, on SPI timberlands between Lomo and Campbellville.
High-severity fire effects on SPI timberland north of Ponderosa Way, near Panther Spring. The knoll on the left with some surviving forest is the old Panther Spring fire station site. It had extensive thinning and some prescribed fire over the past 80 years.
Lots of residual heat and some hopeful (?) green on the plateau of beaver Creek Pinery, in center. This is an important place for people who appreciate/study the role fire plays in maintaining ponderosa pine.