{"id":71950,"date":"2026-08-22T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=71950"},"modified":"2026-08-28T21:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T21:25:10","slug":"hawk-fire-forces-evacuations-for-parts-of-reno-nevada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/71950","title":{"rendered":"Hawk Fire forces Evacuation Orders for parts of the Reno, Nevada area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260822_g18_vis_fireMask_HawkFire_NV.mov\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>1-minute GOES-18 Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product, from 1801 UTC on 22 August to 0200 UTC on 23 August; Interstate Highways are plotted in red, with US Highways plotted in magenta<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 <em>(GOES-West)<\/em> Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product <strong><em>(above)<\/em><\/strong> showed the thermal signature of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/app.watchduty.org\/i\/116444\">Hawk Fire<\/a><\/strong> as it rapidly expanded to the northeast on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\/dailywxmap\/index_20260822.html\">22 August 2026<\/a><\/strong>. Due to the close proximity of the fire, the Reno\/Stead Airport (METAR identifier KRTS) was closed to civilian aircraft (remaining open for firefighting operations only). Evacuation Orders were issued for areas west and northwest of Reno, as the wind-driven brush fire eventually jumped US 395 (plotted in magenta), causing part of that highway to be closed. By the end of the day on 22 August, the Hawk Fire had burned approximately 10500 acres, at 0% containment. One fatality was attributed to the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/ngfs\/\">Next Generation Fire System<\/a><\/strong> (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong> provided a closer view of the thermal signature, smoke plume and occasional bursts of pyrocumulus clouds produced by the Hawk Fire (the initial NGFS detection occurred at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260822_1819utc_g18_geoColorRGB_ngfs_HawkFire_initial_detection.png\">1819 UTC<\/a><\/strong>). Wind gusts in the vicinity of the fire were as high as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260823_0042utc_g18_geoColorRGB_ngfs_HawkFire.png\">49 mph<\/a><\/strong> (red numbers in the lower right corner of the Surface Observation plots).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260822_g18_rgb_ngfs_HawkFire_NV.mov\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>1-minute GOES-18 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons, from 1800 UTC on 22 August to 0200 UTC on 23 August; wind gusts are denoted by red numbers on the Surface Observation plots<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A longer animation of 1-minute GOES-18 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rammb2.cira.colostate.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Fire_Temperature_RGB-1.pdf\">Fire Temperature RGB<\/a><\/strong> images <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong> indicated that the fire&#8217;s thermal signature had significantly diminished by 0400 UTC on 23 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay controls loop muted src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260822_g18_fireTempRGB_HawkFire_NV.mov\" playsinline><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>1-minute GOES-18 Fire Temperature RGB images, from 1800 UTC on 22 August  to 0400 UTC on 23 August<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Hawk Fire burned very hot, first exhibiting the 137.88\u00baC saturation temperature of GOES-18 ABI Shortwave Infrared (3.9 \u00b5m, Band 07) detectors at 2041 UTC <strong><em>(below)<\/em><\/strong>. The fire frequently exhibited this saturation temperature for nearly 6 hours, until <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260823_0230utc_g18_shortwaveInfrared_HawkFire_final_saturation.png\">0230 UTC on 23 August<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260822_2041utc_g18_shortwaveInfrared_HawkFire_initial_saturation.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260822_2041utc_g18_shortwaveInfrared_HawkFire_initial_saturation.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>GOES-18 Shortwave Infrared image at 2041 UTC on 22 August, with a cursor sample of the 3.9 \u00b5m brightness temperature [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>===== 27 August Update =====<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260827_1839utc_landsat9_naturalColorRGB_Hawk_Fire_burn_scar.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/08\/260827_1839utc_landsat9_naturalColorRGB_Hawk_Fire_burn_scar.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1839 UTC on 27 August [click to enlarge]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5 days after the Hawk Fire started, its burn scar (darker shades of brown) was evident in a Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image <strong><em>(above)<\/em><\/strong>. The fire was 95% contained at that point in time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product (above) showed the thermal signature of the Hawk Fire as it rapidly expanded to the northeast on 22 August 2026. Due to the close proximity of the fire, the Reno\/Stead Airport (METAR identifier KRTS) was closed to civilian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":71955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,114,55,158,53,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fire-detection","category-goes-18","category-landsat","category-ngfs","category-real-earth","category-redgreenblue-rgb-images"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71950"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72042,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71950\/revisions\/72042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}