NASA Satellite Captures 'Late-Autumn' Fires In California

Warmer temperatures seem to have extended the fire season in California. New satellite images have captured the "late-autumn" fires that recently started in the southeast of Los Angeles.

NASA Earth Observatory has shared two images of the Airport Fire and Bond Fire, both of which are considered active fires. The first is a natural-color image that shows the Airport Fire in Riverside County, which ignited on Dec. 1, and the Bond Fire in Orange County, which started burning on Dec. 2.

In the image, taken by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite on Thursday, one can see the thick smoke practically covering its neighboring areas of Santa Ana, Irvine and Anaheim.

The second image, also captured by the Landsat 8 the same day, is a false-color image of the same area. It shows the active fires in bright red and also the burn scars from the previous major wildfires in the area, which can be seen in red-brown shades. It included burn scars from the Blue Ridge Fire and the Silverado Fire, which were reported near the Airport Fire and Bond Fire respectively.

The green areas show the intact vegetation while the gray parts mark the cities and other infrastructure, NASA Earth Observatory explained.

Cal Fire considers the Airport Fire and the Bond Fire as "active fires of interest." As of Saturday, the Airport Fire has reportedly burned 1,000 acres of land and is 25% contained, Cal Fire said. The Bond Fire has since burned 7,375 acres of land and is 50% contained as of Sunday.

Unfortunately, the "fire potential" across parts of California is expected to remain above normal through December, partly because of warmer-than-normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. Cal Fire has also warned of "critical fire weather" in Southern and Northern California until early next week, urging people to be alert and "ready to go."

"The December fires are the latest episodes in what has been a brutal fire season for California and much of the U.S. West," NASA Earth Observatory explained. "Five of the state's six largest fires on record have occurred in 2020."

According to Cal Fire, the California wildfires have burned 4 million acres of land in the state since the beginning of the year.