Dense smoke billows from two large fires burning in northern Mexico in this image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on April 9, 2011. MODIS has detected fires in this area since March 23. Active fire locations are outlined in red.

The fires are burning in the remote mountains of Mexico’s Coahuila state. According to the Mexican National Forestry Commission, the fires had burned at least 42,000 hectares of brush and pastureland in steep terrain as of April 7. The Mexican government has declared the fires a national disaster and requested international assistance in fighting the fires, said the National Forestry Commission.

The intense fire activity seen on April 9 was likely fueled by the same strong winds that contributed to extreme fire conditions throughout Texas on April 9 and 10.

1. References

2. Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. (2011, April 11). Com.152/11 – Semarnat informa. Accessed April 11, 2011.
3. Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. (2011, April 7). Com. 146/11 – Empleará CONAFOR recursos del FONDEN en reforzar combate de incendios en Coahuila. Accessed April 11, 2011.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.

Instrument: 

Aqua - MODIS