USDA FOREST SERVICE

Pacific Southwest Research Station

Fire Science: Wildfire Monitoring and Prediction

Vallecito Lightning Complex Fire, San Diego County, CA 13 August 2012, 19:18 to 19:45 PDT

Surface temperatures as estimated from radiance measured at 8-12 micrometers wavelength in the thermal infrared by the PSW FireMapper system. A color scale is shown at lower right. Warmer tones (red, orange, yellow) represent recent and active combustion; surrounding landscape temperatures where measured are shown in tan shades. Large reaches of higher temperature behind a fire front are typically associated with heavy fuel loading.