English: The California fire season continued to heat up across the state in July 2016, with high temperatures, low humidity, and a long-standing drought fueling the fire risk. As of July 31, Inciweb Incident Information System reported a total of fifteen actively burning wildfires, along with two Burned Area Emergency Response efforts and one prescribed burn in the state. The Sand and the Soberanes fires remained the most destructive, with 41,432 and 38,007 acres consumed, respectively.

On July 23 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite flew over California and captured this true-color image which features the smoke and heat from both the Sand and Soberanes fires.

The Sand Fire consumed chaparral and brush in the Sand Canyon and Placerita Canyon, on the north edge of Angeles National Forest. According to Inciweb, the fire started on July 22. As of July 31 it was 93 percent contained, with 1,038 total personnel working the fire. Resources on site include 42 engines, 24 hand crews, 6 helicopters, 10 water tenders and 7 bulldozers. The Sand fire is the most southerly fire in this image.

The Soberanes Fire ignited on July 22 and, like the Sand Fire, the cause is under investigation. The wildfire is burning along Soberanes Creek, Garrapata State Park, and north of Big Sur in Monterey County, California. As of July 31, the fire is 15 percent contained. Twenty homes and two other buildings have been reported destroyed.