Scorched earth from space: Stunning satellite images show brutal path of California wildfires

[Matrix]

• Camp Fire in Northern California and Woolsey and Hill fires in Southern California continue to ravage the state
• Together the blazes have scorched 175,000 acres in less than three days, devastating several communities
• Photographs taken from space outline where the fires have been and where they are still burning 

New satellite images show the widespread devastation caused by three wildfires still raging out-of-control in California.

The Camp Fire in Northern California and Woolsey and Hill fires in Southern California have scorched a total of 175,000 acres in less than three days, fueled by the relentless Santa Ana winds. 

As of Saturday morning, the Camp Fire was reported to be 20 percent contained after having burned an estimated 100,000 acres of land north of Sacramento in Butte County, making it the worst wildfire in California history.

Down south the Woolsey and Hill fires are ablaze just miles apart, spanning nearly 75,000 acres in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The former remains zero percent contained while firefighters have managed to bring the latter, which is considerably smaller, to 25 percent containment.

 

+4

•  

New satellite images show the widespread devastation caused by three wildfires still raging out-of-control in California. The photograph above shows the 100,000-acre area torched by the Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County, taken Friday

‹ Slide me ›

The slider above gives both an unmarked view (left) and an annotated version (right) of images taken by DigitalGlobe's  WorldView-3 satellite on Friday. As the second image explains, the areas with healthy, undamaged vegetation appear blue, burned areas appear yellow and orange and areas still on fire appear incandescent

 

+4

•  

The DigitalGlobe satellite is able to penetrate the thick blanket of smoke cloaking the area surrounding the wildfire

source