Woolsey Fire

Multiple wildfires are tearing through the state of California, fueled in part by high winds.

Landsat 7 captured an image of two large fires on Nov. 11, 2018, the Woolsey Fire and the Hill Fire. Comparing the image to one captured by Landsat 8 on Nov. 3 offers a wide view of the damage from the fast-moving blazes.

The Woolsey fire began on Nov. 8, burning more than 98,000 acres as of Nov. 15. Landsat’s short-wave and near-infrared bands serve to highlight the burn scars, which appear red to the north of Malibu in the Nov. 11 image. An active fire is visible as a blue spot, encircled by glowing red.

The Hill Fire’s impact is seen in the smaller, arrowhead-shaped burn scar northwest of the two larger, brighter scars left by the Woolsey Fire. The Hill Fire burned 4,500 acres by Nov. 15.

Remotely-sensed image data from Landsat and other sensors archived at the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center can serve to track the impact of and recovery from natural and manmade disasters.