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Sparks Fire in eastern New Mexico

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with/without an overlay of 1-minute NGFS Fire Detection polygons, and plots of Surface Observations, from 2100 UTC on 28 April to 0100 UTC on 29 April [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons (above) provided a view of the smoke plume and thermal signature associated with the Sparks Fire, which began burning in eastern New Mexico during the afternoon hours on 28 April 2026. With the NGFS Fire Detection polygons removed, the narrow dark-colored burn scar of this wind-driven wildfire was more easily seen as it quickly expanded eastward (westerly winds gusted to 40 mph east of the fire, and gusted to 31 mph south-southeast of the fire). That portion of eastern New Mexico had been experiencing severe drought conditions.

The initial NGFS detection occurred at 2115 UTC (3:15 PM MDT), along a slightly elevated plateau northwest of Hassell (below).

GOES-18 GeoColor RGB image with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons and Surface Observations at 2115 UTC on 28 April, with a comparison to terrain [click to enlarge]

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