Multiple destructive fires broke out in the hills of Los Angeles County in early January 2025. As of January 8, several major wildland fires burned, fueled by a dry landscape and winds that gusted up to 100 miles per hour.
Multiple destructive fires broke out in the hills of Los Angeles County in early January 2025. As of January 8, several major wildland fires burned, fueled by a dry landscape and winds that gusted up to 100 miles per hour. The blazes have destroyed thousands of structures and prompted officials to issue evacuation orders in several parts of the county.
One of the wind-driven fires ignited during the morning of January 7, near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. The image below, acquired by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite, shows the Palisades fire at 10:45 a.m. Pacific Time on January 7, soon after it ignited.
Smoke continued to stream from the Palisades fire toward the Pacific Ocean that afternoon, when the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the image above. By the afternoon of January 8, it had moved westward along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu, scorching over 11,000 acres (44 square kilometers), according to Cal Fire.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Wanmei Liang, NASA Earth Observatory
