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Zombie Fires Becoming Active in British Columbia

Remnants of old fires from 2023 are getting active again in northeast British Columbia. Called “zombie fires” for how they overwinter, these fires continue to burn even under snow. This image from May 7th 2024 shows the VIIRS DayFire product overlaid with VIIRS fire points, highlighting where the reanimated fires are burning on the edges of last year’s burn scars, which are colored a dark red.

This pair of images from about an hour later shows a closer image of one of the fires. In both the VIIRS DayFire product at left, and the VIIRS 3.74 um “Shortwave Infrared” band at right, the actively burning fire is highlighted thanks to the infrared channels. The fire radiative power (FRP) is at 419 MW.