October 16, 2017 - Fires in northern California

Fires in northern California

An outbreak of devastating wildfires have plagued California’s wine country in October 2017, scorching towns and countryside while destroying homes and taking lives.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the cluster of deadly fires on October 10, approximately two days after the first fires ignited. On October 15, Cal Fire issued the following report: “Yesterday, nearly 11,000 firefighters beat back the flames and made good progress towards the containment of now 15 large wildfires across California. 217,566 acres have burned in the current 15 large fires, with an estimated 5,700 structures destroyed. Sadly, the death toll has risen to 40 people”.

Many of the victims died late on October 8 or October 9, when the newly-ignited fires expanded explosively, driven by strong northeasterly winds and giving little time for successful evacuation. As of October 15, 75,000 people remain evacuated and unable to return home. Fortunately, ebbing winds and light rain have helped firefighting efforts in the last 24 hours.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/10/2017
Resolutions: 1km (153.9 KB), 500m (547 KB), 250m (1.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC