Severe Floods Wash Away Home and Kill Father and 2 Children in New Mexico Ski Town 1 Year Post Devastating Wildfires View this post on Instagram A post shared by Downshift Brewing Co. | Family Owned NM Craft Brewery (@downshiftbrewingco) Severe flash flooding ripped through the southern New Mexico mountain town of Ruidoso this week, killing three people, destroying homes, and once again testing a community already battered by last year’s deadly wildfires. A middle-aged man and two children, ages 7 […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | July 10, 2025 0 Comments
NASA: Fires Char Ski Town in South-Central New Mexico Two wildland fires—the South Fork and Salt fires—ignited in south-central New Mexico on June 17. The destructive blazes burned on Mescalero Tribal and U.S. Forest Service land around Ruidoso, a village sandwiched between the two fires. Related: [UPDATED] At Least 1 Dead as Wildfires Engulf Ruidoso, NM, Home to Ski Apache Resort The VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on […] Fire Firebrains | June 23, 2024 0 Comments
French Wildfires Devastate Southern Regions, 3,000 Evacuated On Monday, a fire in the Pyrénées-Orientales region of France in the southwest. In Perpignan, a city in Pyrénées-Orientales, more than 500 hectares (1200 acres) of land are in ashes. These wildfires have been getting extremely close to campsites. They also have caused the evacuation of some 3000 tourists in the past few days. These tourists went into temporary accommodations […] Fire Ian McIsaac | August 17, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Fire Season Heats Up in the West In terms of wildfires, 2023 has been a quiet year so far in the United States. But in early August, 60 fires burned across nine states in the West, fueled by hot and dry conditions. Two of the largest fires were ignited in Oregon and Idaho in late July. Related: Thanks to Epic Snowpack, California Wildfires Off to Slowest Start […] Fire Firebrains | August 4, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Smoke Blankets the Upper Midwest Smoke from intense wildland fires in Canada billowed over the upper Midwest in June 2023, causing hazy skies and hazardous air quality in Canada and across several U.S. states. Related: NASA: Smoke From Canadian Wildfires Chokes Northeastern US The image above—acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite—shows smoke drifting across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North and […] Fire Firebrains | June 16, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Smoke Fills North American Skies Raging fires filled the skies of southern Canada and the northern United States with smoke in mid-May 2023. The fires had scorched 478,000 hectares (1,800 square miles) in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan as of May 16, which is ten times the average area burned for this time of year. Related: Over 100 Wildfires Force Tens of Thousands of People […] Fire Firebrains | May 17, 2023 0 Comments
Over 100 Wildfires Force Tens of Thousands of People to Evacuate in British Columbia and Alberta More than 100 wildfires raged across Western Canada in early May 2023, forcing tens of thousands of people in Alberta and British Columbia to evacuate. The fires destroyed homes and produced chimneys of smoke that reached the upper troposphere. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image (above) of smoke billowing from fires in the […] Fire Firebrains | May 10, 2023 1 Comment
Record-Breaking Wildfires Have Burned Over 2 Million Acres in Alaska, Covering Half the State in Smoke Summertime in Alaska is supposed to be magical (except for the mosquitos). Endless daylight and copious amounts of outdoor activities means recreational opportunities are prime before the harsh, dark, cold winter comes. However, this summer has been plagued by wildfires. There are still several months left in wildfire season, but Alaska has already surpassed 2 million acres burned this season. […] Fire Brent Thomas | July 7, 2022 0 Comments
Over 770,000 Acres Already Burned by Wildfires in Alaska This Year This article originally appeared on nasa.gov On June 4–5, 2022, thunderstorms moved across south-central and southwest Alaska, delivering nearly 5,000 lightning strikes and igniting dozens of wildfires. It was the latest outbreak in an unusually active fire season so far. As of June 14, 2022, there were 85 active fires burning across the state. More than half of them were burning in southwest Alaska, […] Fire Firebrains | June 15, 2022 0 Comments
Colorado Wildlife Department Planning to Invest $20 Million Into Fire Prevention Tactics The Colorado Wildlife Department is gearing up for another wildfire season by investing $20 million into an updated Wildlife Preparedness Plan. The CWD believes that Colorado’s mountains and plains are at risk for more wildfires than ever before. The department estimated there will be about 5,507 fires. According to the 2022 Wildlife Preparedness Plan, the fires will burn about 221,661 […] Fire Haleigh Hafner | May 3, 2022 0 Comments
Forest Service Ends Regional Closure Order in California 2 Days Early; 5 Forests Remain Closed Under Local Orders The USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region will end the regional closure order affecting National Forests in California at 11:59 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 15, two days before the original end date of Sept. 17. However, forest-wide closures will remain in place and be extended until midnight on September 22nd on the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino, and Cleveland National […] SnowBrains | September 15, 2021 0 Comments
NASA: Climate Change is Pushing Wildfires to Higher Ground ‘Climate Change Pushes Wildfires to Higher Ground’ first appeared on NASA Earth Observatory and was written by Ashley Balzer. Scientists have known for decades that climate change makes wildfires more common, larger, and more intense. Now an international team of scientists has demonstrated a new connection between fires and global warming. Using data from Landsat satellites, they discovered that wildfires […] Fire Firebrains | September 8, 2021 1 Comment
NASA Images: The Arc of Fires in the US West As August 2021 came to an end, 42,647 fires had scorched 4,879,574 acres across the United States in 2021—close to the ten-year average for the first eight months of a year, according to statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center. But among the 83 fires still actively burning on August 31, some were especially fierce; two of them had crossed […] Fire Firebrains | September 1, 2021 1 Comment
NASA: MISR Instrument Sees California Wildfire Smoke Plumes From Space This post first appeared on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website and was written by Esprit Smith, NASA’s Earth Science News Team. Smoke from several large wildfires burning in Northern California can be seen traveling miles into the atmosphere. As of Aug. 24, wildfires in Northern California – including the McCash, Antelope, River Complex, Monument, and Dixie fires – have […] Fire Firebrains | August 26, 2021 0 Comments
Lake Tahoe’s Air Quality is Some of the Worst in North America Lake Tahoe has some of the worst air quality in North America right now. The prevailing winds are carrying smoke from the nearby Caldor Fire right into the Tahoe Basin. Related: Caldor Fire Forces Ski Area Closures as it Nears Lake Tahoe, CA At the time of writing, the lodge at the Alpine Meadows ski area has an air quality […] Fire Firebrains | August 24, 2021 6 Comments
NASA: California is Burning The post ‘California Burning’ first appeared on NASA Earth Observatory and was written by Adam Voiland. The worst of California’s fire season typically comes in autumn, but severe drought and bouts of unusually warm weather have helped sustain several major fires in northern California for much of August. Related: California Wildfire Becomes First Known to Cross Sierra Nevada Mountain Range […] Fire Firebrains | August 23, 2021 0 Comments
The World Is on Fire – An Overview of Current Wildfires The world is on fire. 2021 is turning out to be a terrible year for wildfires, with widespread fires burning or having burnt across six continents. Huge blazes are burning in North America, South America, Canada, Russia, and Europe. Related: Wildfire Smoke Reaches North Pole For First Time in Recorded History The devastating effects of wildfires, which have killed more than […] Fire Firebrains | August 19, 2021 0 Comments
Wildfire Smoke Reaches North Pole For First Time in Recorded History A vast, thick, and acrid blanket of smoke emitted from hundreds of forest fires covered most of Russia on August 6, 2021. Related: Why the Smoke Pollution From the West is the Worst It’s Been in 10-Years This true-color image, which was acquired by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite on August 6, was created using […] Fire Firebrains | August 11, 2021 0 Comments
Satellite Images of Wildfire Smoke in Northern California: 2020 vs. 2021 Here’s a snapshot of how this wildfire season in Northern California is going compared to last year’s. On August 3 last year, Northern California enjoyed relatively smoke-free skies. But on August 3 this year, plenty of smoke from area wildfires was seen on visible satellite imagery. Check out the latest air quality & smoke coverage at fire.airnow.gov Related: NASA Images: […] Fire Firebrains | August 5, 2021 0 Comments
NASA Images: A Summer of Fire-Breathing Smoke Storms A Summer of Fire-Breathing Smoke Storms first appeared on NASA Earth Observatory and was written by Adam Voiland. In 2000, atmospheric scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) first reported that smoke plumes from intense wildfires could spawn towering thunderstorms that channeled smoke as high or higher than the cruising altitude of jets. These pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, events wowed scientists […] Fire Firebrains | July 30, 2021 1 Comment