Topanga Fire

  • Credit

    NASA image created from data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Northwest of Los Angeles, California, a brush fire exploded in late September 2005. Growing to more than 16,000 acres in around 2 days, the blaze threatened homes, natural resources, power lines, and communications equipment in the Thousand Oaks region north of the Santa Monica Mountains.

A charcoal-colored burn scar sprawls across the mountainous terrain northwest of Los Angeles, California, in this infrared-enhanced satellite image collected by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite on October 4, 2005. The image makes it clear how close the fire came to cities and towns including Simi Valley near the northern edge and Thousand Oaks at the southwestern edge. The fire burned down a ridge that separates two more developed areas. Within the burned area, some pockets of vegetation (which appears red in this kind of image), have been spared. The large image shows the entire burned area, which, according to reports from the National Interagency Fire Center, exceeded 24,000 acres.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    ADEOS/ADEOS

  • Start Date

    2005-10-04

  • Event Start Date

    2005-09-27

  • NH Image ID

    13186

  • NH Event ID

    10781

  • NH Posting Date

    2005-10-05