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Corral Fire in California

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-18 Day Fire RGB (top left), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, top right), Fire Temperature RGB (bottom left) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images with overlays of the Fire Power and Fire Mask derived products (bottom right), from 2101 UTC on 01 June to 0201 UTC on 02 June [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

5-minute CONUS sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Day Fire RGB, Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Temperature RGB and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images with overlays of the Fire Power and Fire Mask derived product (2 components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) (above) displayed signatures of the Corral Fire, which started around 2126 UTC on 01 June 2024 in far southern San Joaquin County (just south of Tracy, California).

A longer animation of GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared images (below) showed that the wind-driven grass fire quickly approached I-580 south of Tracy — forcing a portion of that Interstate highway (from the Alameda County line to the Stanislaus County line) to be closed for several hours on 02 June. Mandatory evacuations were also issued for parts of Tracy.

GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images, from 2101 UTC on 01 June to 1901 UTC on 02 June [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

On the following morning, GOES-18 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) revealed the dark burn scar of the Corral Fire — along with early-morning smoke plumes emanating from residual fire activity. Visibility restrictions due to smoke was one of the factors leading to the closure of I-580.

GOES-18 True Color RGB images, from 1331-2201 UTC on 02 June [click to playMP4animation]

A Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1839 UTC on 02 June (below) provided a high-resolution view of the dark burn scar — which revealed that the Corral Fire crossed I-580 in two places.

Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1839 UTC on 02 June [click to enlarge]

A toggle between before (17 May) and after (02 June) Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB images is shown below.

Before (17 May) and after (02 June) Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB images [click to enlarge]

Categories: Air quality, Fire detection, GOES-18, Landsat, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images