NASA Satellite Captures Smoke Blanketing Central and Eastern Oregon from Lightning-Sparked Fires

Lightning storms that developed over the Cascade Range on the evening of July 15, 2026, produced thousands of strikes across Oregon and Washington, igniting numerous wildland fires in central and eastern Oregon, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. NASA satellites began detecting large numbers of these fires the following day.

Though initially small, the blazes grew rapidly as gusty winds fanned them across landscapes affected by extreme drought and high summer temperatures. An image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on the afternoon of July 26, 2026, shows smoke pouring northeast from dozens of large fires that had collectively charred hundreds of square miles. The resulting haze blanketed the region, as detailed in the NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day for July 28, 2026.

The smoke led Oregon officials to issue air quality advisories for eastern Oregon and parts of central Oregon, covering counties including Baker, Crook, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, and Wheeler, according to the Oregon Smoke Information site. The advisory, issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on July 27, 2026, noted smoke from multiple wildfires in southern, central, and eastern Oregon and was expected to continue until further notice. Intermittent smoke was also anticipated in additional counties.

As of the date of the satellite image, the largest active fires included the Hay Creek Complex, Brewer, Big Grass, Akawa Butte, and Powder River fires. Several remained less than 5 percent contained, per data from the National Interagency Fire Center referenced by NASA. Many communities faced evacuation orders, and more than 10,000 firefighters were battling wildfires across the state. Oregon officials invoked the state’s Emergency Conflagration Act for particularly threatening fires, including the Shingle, Bench, Beachcomb, and Second Flat fires, to mobilize additional resources, as reported in the NASA Earth Observatory account and confirmed by state announcements.

By July 27, 2026, fires in Oregon had burned more than one million acres, according to news reports cited by NASA, including updates from KGW and local outlets such as KATU, which noted 34 active large fires. Nationally, the National Interagency Fire Center reported that fires had burned more than 4 million acres across the United States by late July, compared with a 10-year average (2016-2025) of 3.4 million acres for that point in the season. Year-to-date figures as of July 27 showed approximately 42,379 fires burning over 4.18 million acres.

Conditions of extreme drought contributed to the fires’ intensity, as indicated by the U.S. Drought Monitor for Oregon. NASA provides real-time wildfire monitoring tools including FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), the Worldview browser, and the Fire Event Explorer to track such events using satellite data.

The fires continue to challenge resources, with state preparedness at high levels and ongoing needs for containment efforts amid hot, dry weather forecasts.