Gallery: Fire Devastation in the Western U.S. Seen From Space
01western-u-s-on-fire
The scale of the fires burning in the Western United States this summer can be hard to fathom. But the view from space reveals the true extent of the devastation. Satellites have captured some sobering images of the fire, smoke and burn scars scattered across the Intermountain West. While the fires in Colorado are dominating the news this week, blazes have also been raging in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona in June. Here are some of the scenes from space collected by NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey this month. __Above:__ This view from NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-15, on June 28 shows fires dotting the Rockies and sending smoke over huge swaths of the Midwest. Much of the smoke in this image is from blazes in Wyoming. *Image: NASA/NOAA GOES Project.*
02high-park-fire-co
These images captured by the USGS's Landsat 5 and 7 satellites show the Fort Collins area on June 8 before the fire (left) and on June 18 (right) after 60,000 acres and 189 homes had burned. As of June 29, the High Park fire had destroyed at least 259 homes and torched more than 87,000 acres. The burn scar shows up in dark red, active fires in bright red and smoke in light blue in these images taken by the [Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus](http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/etm+.html) instrument. *Images: USGS*
03high-park-fire-co-2
These images of the High Park fire near Fort Collins were captured by NASA’s [Aqua](http://aqua.nasa.gov) satellite on June 9 (left) and June 10 (right). The approximate extent of the active fire is outlined in red. As of June 29, the High Park fire had destroyed at least 259 homes and torched more than 87,000 acres. *Images: NASA*
04waldo-canyon-fire-co
These images from the USGS's Landsat 7 satellite show the area northwest of Colorado Springs on May 26 (left) before the Waldo Canyon fire started and on June 27 (right) after it had been burning for four days. As of June 29, the fire had burned more than 18,000 acres, leveled 346 homes and forced more than 35,000 people to evacuate, making it the most destructive fire in the state's history. The burn scar shows up in dark red, active fires in bright red and smoke in light blue in these images taken by the [Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus](http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/etm+.html) instrument. *Images: USGS*
05whitewater-baldy-fire-nm
The Whitewater Baldy Complex fire is the biggest blaze in New Mexico's history. The images above taken by the USGS's Landsat 7 satellite show the Gila Wilderness area on May 1 (left) and on June 2 after two lightning-sparked fires joined and burned more than 260,000 acres. The burn scar shows up in dark red, active fires in bright red and smoke in light blue in these images taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus instrument. *Images: USGS*
06whitewater-baldy-fire-nm-2
These images of the Whitewater Baldy Fire in New Mexico were taken on June 5 by the [Advanced Land Imager](http://eo1.usgs.gov/sensors/ali) (ALI) on NASA’s [Earth Observing-1](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EO1Tenth/) (EO-1) satellite. The false-color image (right) shows the massive burn scar in red and active fire in orange. By June 14, New Mexico's largest fire ever had burned 290,000 acres. The natural color image (left) is a close-up of the area inside the white box in the image on the right. *Images: NASA*
07gladiator-fire-az
These images of the Prescott National Forest in Arizona were taken by the USGS's Landsat 7 satellite on April 20 (left) and then on May 22 (right) after the Gladiator Fire had been burning for nine days. By June 13, it had burned 16,240 acres and six structures. The burn scar shows up in dark red, active fires in bright red and smoke in light blue in these images taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus instrument. *Images: USGS*
08little-bear-fire-nm
These shots of the Little Bear Fire in New Mexico were taken on June 12 by NASA’s [Earth Observing-1](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EO1Tenth/)(EO-1) satellite. The fire was started by lightning on June 4 and 10 days later it had burned more than 37,000 acres. In the false-color image on the right, the burn scar shows up in red and active fire is in orange. The natural color image (left) is a close-up of the area inside the white box in the image on the right. *Images: NASA*
09little-bear-fire-nm-2
This image of the Little Bear Fire in New Mexico were taken by NASA’s [Aqua](http://aqua.nasa.gov) satellite on June 9 when the smoke had spread over a large part of Texas. As of June 29, the fire had burned 242 structures and 44,000 acres and was 95 percent contained. *Image: NASA*
10space-station-video
NASA released this footage on June 28 from a video camera on the International Space Station showing fires burning in the Western U.S. *Video: NASA*
