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Explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Esparto, California

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 (GOES-West) GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons [click to play MP4 animation]

A major explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Esparto, California occurred late in the afternoon (local time) on 01 July 2025, injuring 2 with 7 people remaining unaccounted for (media report). The robust thermal signature of the resulting fire was captured by the Next Generation Fire System (NGFS), using both 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) images (above) and 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) images (below). The initial GOES-18 NGFS detection occurred at 0049 UTC, with a cursor sample indicating that the Fire Radiative Power value was 1816.57 MW.

5-minute GOES-19 (GOES-East) GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons [click to play MP4 animation]

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1-minute GOES-18 (GOES-West) True Color RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

The extent of the smoke plume emanating from the post-explosion fire was shown in larger-scale views of CSPP GeoSphere True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (above) and GOES-19 (below). GOES-18 imagery revealed that two additional explosions occurred, as indicated by small bursts of pyrocumulus clouds beginning at 0142 UTC and 0201 UTC.

5-minute GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

Thanks to Todd Beltracci, The Aerospace Corporation, for alerting us to this event.

Categories: Fire detection, GOES-18, GOES-19, NGFS, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images