On September 18, 2009, firefighters continued to monitor a 212-kilometer (132-mile) containment line around the Station Fire. Since August 26, the fire had burned 160,557 acres (650 square kilometers), but authorities expected the fire to be contained by September 19.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this false-color image of the Station Fire and its surroundings on September 16, 2009. Using a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between burned land, and vegetated or bare land, this image shows the scar from the Station Fire, an irregular patch of brownish red. Vegetation—even sparse vegetation—appears bright green. North of the fire, the Mojave Desert appears sandy pink. South of the fire, the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles appears in shades of blue-gray to nearly white.
As of September 18, 2009, the Station Fire was 93 percent contained, although the local weather forecast called for higher temperatures and lower humidity over the coming days.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Michon Scott.
