NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Image above: MODIS image of fires in Florida and Southern Georgia. Credit: NASA.
Wildfires in Georgia and Florida continue to burn on Friday, May 11, 2007, blowing vast plumes of smoke out over the Gulf of Mexico. This image, from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, was captured that morning. Red pixels denote active fires.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), there are seven fires currently burning in Georgia. Presently the largest of those fires is the Bugaboo Scrub fire in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in the southeastern part of the state. This fire has burned 88,252 acres and is not yet contained.

Twelve fires are burning throughout the state of Florida, reports the NIFC, none of which are fully contained. According to news reports, smoke from these fires has forced the closure of a number of highways in the state.

The remnants of the first named tropical storm of the 2007 hurricane season, Andrea, can be seen on the far right side of the image. The storm was downgraded to a tropical depression on May 11, 2007, and, according to news reports, is not expected to provide much rainfall to the drought-stricken region.

Laura Spector
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center