High winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) helped fuel both the Monument and Horseshoe Two Fires burning in southern Arizona on June 19, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite took this image at 1:05 p.m. local time. The wind blows dense plumes of smoke northeast away from the fires, which are outlined in red.
Both fires are burning in extremely dry grass, brush, and mixed forest in the mountains. The Monument Fire started on June 12, and by the end of the day on June 19, had burned about 26,956 acres (10,909 hectares or 42 square miles). The strong wind pushed the fire into a residential area on June 19, where it destroyed an unknown number of homes.
The Horseshoe Two Fire started on May 8 and had burned 213,511 acres (86,405 hectares or 334 square miles) and destroyed 9 homes and 14 outbuildings by June 19. Burning in steep, rugged terrain, the fire has been hard to control, but is currently 80 percent contained.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
