The “Oak Fire” that broke out in California is so gigantic that its smoke can be seen from space. The ISS obtained disturbing images as it passed over the area.
The situation is deteriorating in California. A fire called “Oak Fire”, which broke out on Friday July 22, 2022 near Yosemite National Park, continued to spread on Monday July 25. According to the latest situation report, mentioned by AFPthe fires were able to cover 7,000 hectares of vegetation and the fire ” is spreading at full speed ».
Smoke visible at 400 km altitude
This fire is so considerable that the smoke which emanates from it is even visible from space, noticed France Info. It is from the International Space Station (ISS), which evolves in Earth orbit at an altitude of about 400 kilometers, that spectacular and disturbing images have been taken. We thus see in this tweet from the @ISSAboveYou account (a site that constantly shows where is the ISS) a video obtained on July 22. The ISS passes over northern California when this video is filmed.
To better reflect the location of these fumes, the ISS Above Twitter account also posted a map showing what the station’s trajectory was when these images were taken.
Other aerial images of the damage caused by this impressive fire were released by FIRE (Fire Integrated Real-time Intelligence System), a program providing real-time disaster information in California. The program makes it possible in particular to obtain images in the infrared, as in this tweet posted on July 24 by @FIRIS. Views of the fire were captured on July 23.
Firefighters began to bring the giant blaze under control on July 25, managing to halt its eastward expansion toward Yosemite National Park, according to Reuters. California is particularly vulnerable to fires, due to the droughts and rising temperatures that have been occurring for the past two decades.