Fires in Southern California

Fires in Southern California

The massive Witch Fire in San Diego County sprawled over nearly 200,000 acres of Southern California, reaching from the Cleveland National Forest in the east to beyond Interstate 15 in the west. This image from the commercial Quickbird satellite shows the heart of the fire on October 22, 2007. The scene is centered just north of Lake Sutherland, in the mountains northeast of the city of Ramona. Much of the terrain in the area is national forest or Native American Indian reservations. Large smoke plumes spread west from the burning ridgelines, suggesting that Santa Ana winds were gusting across the landscape toward the Pacific.

Images copyright DigitalGlobe.