A fire broke out at a tire recycling facility in Wisconsin on July 19, 2005. Thick plumes of black smoke spread out over a wide area. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image captured by the sensor on the Aqua satellite shows the smoke plume spreading over Milwaukee. A special chemical was spread over the piles of shredded tires on Friday, July 22, and according to news reports, it helped substantially in controlling the blaze.
Tire fires are often very difficult to extinguish and create air and water pollutants, such as oil. For more about the environmental effects of tire fires, visit the Tire Fire Webpage of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC.
