The blaze is the largest in Arizona this year and the largest in the United States right now.
On the afternoon of June 13, 2020, a vehicle fire near the interaction of Bush Highway and State Route 87 ignited the brush and grass nearby. By June 16, nearly 65,000 acres (100 square miles or 260 square kilometers) northeast of Phoenix, Arizona, had burned, making the Bush Fire the largest in the state this year and the largest in the United States right now.
According to firefighting and forest management agencies in the region, the fire was burning through tall grass and brush in and around the Tonto National Forest. As of midday on June 16, more than 400 firefighters were battling the flames with helicopters, fire engines, bulldozers, and airplanes. The fire was completely uncontained amid hot, dry, and windy conditions. More than 1,500 people had been evacuated from the Tonto Basin and Sunflower communities.
The satellite images above show the Bush Fire burn scar and some active fire fronts as they appeared on June 14, 2020.
Continue reading at NASA Earth Observatory
Image via NASA Earth Observatory
