The fire season normally winds down in the Pacific Northwest in the fall, but several blazes continued to light up forests in Oregon and Washington well into October 2022.
The fire season normally winds down in the Pacific Northwest in the fall, but several blazes continued to light up forests in Oregon and Washington well into October 2022.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of smoke plumes spanning hundreds of kilometers in both states on October 9, 2022. In Washington, smoke from the Bolt Creek Fire and Goat Rocks Fire amassed in a network of valleys in the Cascades. In Oregon, a long smoke plume extended to the west and created hazardous air quality in Oakridge. Smoke from the fire has also degraded air quality in Portland, Eugene, and Roseburg at times during the past week.
Much of the smoke in Oregon was from the Cedar Creek Fire in Lane County, a large lightning-triggered blaze that burned in Willamette National Forest. The fire, which started west of Waldo Lake, has burned through rugged terrain thick with Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir timber stands since August. The 730 firefighters assigned to the blaze have focused primarily on protecting Oakridge, Westfir, and other nearby communities.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Fires were still burning in Oregon and Washington well into October. (Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory)
