File:Oregon's Flat Fire (MODIS).jpg

English: On July 15, 2023, a fire ignited near the Oak Flat Campground in the Rogue River-Siskiyou Forest south of Agness, Oregon. By the evening of July 21, despite a very robust response, the wind-driven Flat Fire had burned more than 15,200 acres according to InciWeb Incident Information System. Although containment remains at zero percent, firefighters have so far succeeded in protecting nearby towns of Agness and Oak Flat.

The fire is burning in brush, timber, and logging slash, with the primary fire carrier reported as timber litter with large wood in the unburned areas as well as heavy dead and down timber and brush in old fire scars. It is showing aggressive fire behavior on Wildhorse Ridge in the west as well as on the southern edge of the fire. With the flames moving southward, the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Sour Game Botanical Area, where several rare species of plants are found, are both threatened.

The Flat Fire is burning in very difficult territory and is driven by high temperatures, low humidity, dry fuels, and high winds. Under these conditions, full containment is expected by September 1.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Oregon’s Flat Fire on July 20. Each red “hot spot” marks an area of actively burning fire. The location of the hot spots strongly suggests the fire is expanding along the edges after burning all available fuel in the center.