Mapping The River Fire

I spent some time tracking The River Fire in Mariposa and Madera counties this week, and it makes an interesting comparison to the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire in Santa Cruz county and which I also covered in my blog. The River Fire started on 11 July. Its development is documented by maps from the NASA FIRMS system, which I’ve included below. Today, after four days, the satellites no longer detect fire in the area of the River Fire. The Calfire Incident Report indicates 21% containment and ongoing mop-up efforts.

Considering the River Fire and the CZU Complex, here are some basic observations:

• The CZU Complex was 10x larger
• The CZU Complex stayed hot for ten days, as detected by NASA FIRMS and satellite data, even after lines were established.
• Calfire reporting based on percentage containment and acreage doesn’t document the actual heat energy of the fire.

I find it interesting that the CZU Complex stayed hot for so much longer than the River Fire. The fuels in Santa Cruz County, mostly Oak and Redwood, seem denser than in Madera County, based on fire behavior and my casual observations on-site. From this California climate map, the area of the River Fire gets less than half the annual precipitation of the CZU Complex. That could contribute to the density of fuels and the challenges for fire control. However, fire could also spread more quickly in drier terrain.