Six Best Canyon Fire Pics

Each major wildfire this year it seems a different fire photog has had the magic touch. With the 6,000-acre (or 7-9,000-acre by some counts) Canyon Fire raging on the south post of Vandenberg Air Force Base, the blessed fire photog has been Santa Barbara County Fire Department's own Public Information Officer (PIO), Mike Eliason. Hard hats off to him for some amazing images (and short videos) shared on his official Twitter account

This was the scene yesterday less than a day into the fire which forced postponement of a then-impending launch at Space Launch Complex-3 of an Atlas V rocket carrying the WorldView 4 satellite

The south base burning last night (Sunday evening).

This was unusually extreme fire behavior for the morning as these trees were incinerated earlier today.

The disk of the sun was obscured under one of the smoky convection columns of the fire this afternoon.

Pyrocumulus clouds formed over the main convection columns this afternoon as moisture from Hurricane Paine passed over the area.

This was the scene today as the fire raged in the hills above Space Launch Complex-3 which houses an Atlas V rocket & WorldView 4 satellite whose launch continues to be postponed indefinitely. All images by Mike Eliason for Santa Barbara County Fire Department (all rights reserved).