The Tripod Fire in northern Washington continued to burn on August 20, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead and captured this image. Locations where MODIS detected active fire are outlined in red. According to a U.S. Forest Service Incident Report from August 21, firefighters were battling the blaze using controlled burnouts to eliminate fuels. The fire was started by lightning on July 24, and more than 116,000 acres had been affected as of August 21.
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides twice-daily images of this area at additional resolutions.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center
