1 VIIRS McIDAS-V Colby, CA Fire January 17-20, 2014 William Straka III 1
Background The Colby Fire started at approximately 0555 PST (~1355Z) on Thursday, January , the Glendora Mountain Road by the Colby truck trail by an illegal campfire – According to a statement to police, one of the three men arrested stated that they were not a designated camping spot and that it was started by by tossing paper into a campfire It was initially fueled by strong Santa Ana winds. Subsequent nighttime VIIRS passes revealed the emitted light (in the Day Night Band) and thermal characteristics (M10, M13) of the fire By January 19 th and 20 th, the fire had been contained and mop up operations were in progress.
VIIRS DNB 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Colby
VIIRS M10 (1.6 m) 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Colby Etiwanda Power Plant or Tamco Steel in Rancho Cucamonga
VIIRS M13 (3.9 m) 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Etiwanda Power Plant or Tamco Steel in Rancho Cucamonga Colby Refineries
VIIRS M15 (11 m) 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Note hot spot in 11 m channel BT Colby
VIIRS DNB 1014Z, January 18, 2014 Colby Smoke
VIIRS M10 (1.6 m) 1014Z, January 18, 2014 Colby
VIIRS M13 (3.9 m) 1014Z, January 18, 2014 Etiwanda Power Plant or Tamco Steel in Rancho Cucamonga Colby Refineries
VIIRS M15 (11 m) 1014Z, January 18, 2014 Colby Note hot spot in 11 m channel BT
VIIRS DNB 0955Z, January 19, 2014 Colby
VIIRS M10 (1.6 m) 0955Z, January 19, 2014 Colby Note hot spot gone
VIIRS M13 (3.9 m) 0955Z, January 19, 2014 Etiwanda Power Plant or Tamco Steel in Rancho Cucamonga Colby Note hot spot gone Refineries
VIIRS M15 (11 m) 0955Z, January 19, 2014 Colby
VIIRS DNB 0936Z, January 20, 2014 Colby
VIIRS M10 (1.6 m) 0936Z, January 20, 2014 Etiwanda Power Plant or Tamco Steel in Rancho Cucamonga Colby
VIIRS M13 (3.9 m) 0936Z, January 20, 2014 Etiwanda Power Plant or Tamco Steel in Rancho Cucamonga Colby Refineries
VIIRS M15 (11 m) 0936Z, January 20, 2014 Colby
ZOOMED IN FEATURES Colby Fire 19
VIIRS DNB 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Possible smoke
VIIRS M15 (11 m) 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Note lack of agreement with IR window
VIIRS DNB 1033Z, January 17, 2014 Colby
VIIRS DNB 1014Z, January 18, 2014 Smoke Colby
VIIRS DNB 0955Z, January 19, 2014 Note bright spot basically gone Colby
VIIRS DNB 0936Z, January 20, 2014 Colby Note bright spot basically gone
Summary Nighttime VIIRS passes over the Colby fire revealed the emitted light (in the Day Night Band) and thermal characteristics (M10, M13) of the fire – These features dissipated or disappear by January 19 th, when most of the fire had been contained At its most intense, the Colby fire could be seen in the 11 m channel. Other thermal features, such as the Etiwanda Power Plant/Tamco Steel plant in Rancho Cucamonga and the various refineries in the Long Beach area were also observed. – These features had relatively cooler thermal characteristics than the Colby fire With the moon being up and in the gibbous phase, what appears to be smoke was observed in on January 17 th off the coast of Santa Rosa Island as well as over the Colby Fire on January 18 th.