NASA's Aqua satellite acquired this image on 9 February 2014, showing several large bushfires burning in and around Snowy River National Park, in the Australian state of Victoria. The fires are outlined in red. Photo: Jesse Allen / NASA

By Holli Riebeek
11 February 2014 (NASA) – With high temperatures and strong winds, fire conditions reached dangerous levels on February 8-9, 2014, in the Australian state of Victoria. Several large bushfires burned in and around Snowy River National Park, producing dense clouds of smoke. The largest of the fires, Yalmy, had burned 79,893 hectares as of February 10, while the nearby Bonang fire burned 11,952 hectares, and Club Terrace, 7,843 hectares. Other smaller fires also burned in the region. Lightning ignited the fires. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired these images on February 9 and 10, 2014. The fires are outlined in red in top image from February 9. By February 10, the smoke was too dense to see the fires from space. [more]

Bushfires in Southeastern Australia