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“It was the first satellite image we could use to tell how severe the burn was across a broad area.” “We needed a clear view of the land surface to make these measurements, and we were lucky enough to get one after so many smoky days,” said Potter, who specializes in satellite studies of land-cover change.

The image below shows the same areas on September 26 as observed in natural color by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. Beyond the fire burn scars, green and light brown areas likely indicate crop growth and harvesting or seasonal changes in trees and other vegetation. Tan areas were significantly burned but still have some live vegetation. Areas colored dark brown have little to no live vegetation left the landscape is mostly covered in soot, ash, and charred stumps and stems. Shades of tan and brown reveal the severity of the burns from each fire, with the darkest shades revealing the greatest damage to the landscape. The data were analyzed by remote sensing scientist Christopher Potter and colleagues at NASA’s Ames Research Center. The technique, known as a normalized burn ratio, uses near-infrared and shortwave-infrared data collected on July 24 and September 26, 2020, to detect changes in the greenness of the landscape. The map above uses Landsat 8 satellite data to provide some measure of the severity of the burns from the SCU and CZU Lightning Complex fires of August and September 2020. Now state and federal agencies are working to assess the damage. Raging for weeks to months amid heat waves and dry weather, the fires charred millions of acres and consumed homes, livelihoods, and lives. “After these fires, we’re going to take a good review of what we’ve done in the past and look at whether are there other factors we should take it into account,” says Berlant.Following an unprecedented outburst of dry lightning in August 2020, wildfires ignited across the state of California.

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“They’re not all that current and there have been a lot of advances in fire hazard mapping,” says Moritz.Ĭal Fire officials wouldn’t provide specific details about what the new maps will show, but say they’re looking at how to improve them. Officials at Cal Fire say the fire hazard maps are in the process of being updated, now that they’re a decade old. Some cities have taken on their own risk assessment for fires or mandated stronger building codes, but state law only requires stricter building codes within the “very high” category of local jurisdictions. However, they can be seen on the draft maps for each county. The other two categories, “high” and “moderate,” are not required to be mapped within city boundaries by the state legislation that created the hazard mapping program, which means the fire building codes don’t apply there.

Three risk categories are mapped within “state responsibility areas,” where Cal Fire is responsible for wildfire control.īut within “local responsibility areas,” where cities are in charge of zoning and firefighting, only the “very high” hazard category is mapped.

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In addition, the fire hazard maps don’t show the full level of risk within cities and local jurisdictions. But the risk, or how much damage a fire can do, depends on the built environment. “We’re mapping hazards and but not vulnerabilities,” says Moritz.įire “hazard” is a measure of how a fire will behave, based on the physical conditions. But the maps don’t account for granular development patterns. The fires also moved quickly through dense neighborhoods where homes were tightly spaced. So, when you do look at your own rating, you’ll miss a lot of local detail.” “The weather conditions aren’t all that bad. “That’s a big gap in their effectiveness,” says Max Moritz, a fire expert with the University of California Cooperative Extension. In the North Bay, extreme winds drove much of the devastation, but the state’s fire hazard maps don’t take the most extreme weather conditions into account. “No matter where you live in California, you are at risk for wildfires,” says Berlant.

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New construction in these zones must meet tougher standards for fire-resistance of roofs, attic venting, windows and decks.Ĭal Fire officials also point out - and as the North Bay fires tragically demonstrated - that living outside of these zones doesn’t mean that you’re safe. “These are big-picture maps that apply to building codes,” says Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of Cal Fire. “No matter where you live in California, you are at risk for wildfires.” Daniel Berlant, Cal Fire The hazard zones come in three categories: moderate, high and very high. The maps show the probability of wildfire in a given area by taking a number of factors into account: vegetation, fire history and topography (since steeper slopes have higher fire risk).