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Havasu Fire in Arizona

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-18 Microphysics RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons and plots of surface reports, from 1501 UTC on 19 January to 1501 UTC on 21 January [click to play MP4 animation]

A prescribed burn in far western Arizona’s Havasu National Wildlife Refuge became uncontrolled as northerly winds unexpectedly increased (gusting to 36 mph at RAWS site QHAA3 just north of the fire, and gusting to 28 mph at Needles Airport just west of the fire around 2300 UTC) — and grew to become the Havasu Fire on 19 January 2026. The fire’s thermal signature was evident in a 2-day animation of 5-minute PACUS Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Microphysics RGB images and Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons from 19-21 January (above).

Although the initial fire detection signal was seen in the GOES-18 Microphysics RGB image at 1521 UTC, the initial NGFS Fire Detection polygons appeared at 1606 UTC (below).

GOES-18 Microphysics RGB image at 1606 UTC on 19 January, with the initial detection of NGFS Fire Detection polygons [click to enlarge]

A probe of the NGFS Fire Detection polygons at 0451 UTC on 20 January (below) revealed a 3.9 µm infrared brightness temperature of 137ºC — which is the saturation temperature of GOES-18 ABI Band 7 detectors.

GOES-18 Microphysics RGB image at 0451 UTC on 20 January, with a probe of NGFS Fire Detection polygons [click to enlarge]

On 20 January, GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images (below) showed the south-southeast transport of smoke from the Havasu Fire — hazy conditions were reported in Lake Havasu City during the day. The smoke affected school activities: students were kept inside for recess that day, and the evening Lake Havasu High School Boys Soccer game was postponed for another date.

5-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons and plots of surface observations, from 1546-2001 UTC on 20 January [click to play MP4 animation]

The southward transport of Havasu Fire smoke could be seen in True Color RGB images from both GOES-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-19 (GOES-East), sourced from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below).

5-minute True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (left) and GOES-19 (right), from 1516-2006 UTC on 20 January [click to play MP4 animation]

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