Intense wildfires (location in red) raged in Idaho and Montana when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on August 4, 2007. According to reports from the National Interagency Fire Center on August 7, Idaho and Montana each had 14 large fires burning, with windy weather predicted to increase fire behavior in the area in subsequent days. In Montana, the fires had affected more than 255,000 acres; in Idaho, fires had affected nearly 400,000 acres. These fires produced smoke that blanketed much of the United States.
You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the fires in Montana and Idaho suitable for use with Google Earth.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.