The 2016-17 Bush Fire Danger Period began on September 01, 2016 for many areas across New South Wales and it didn’t take long for bushfires to crop up. This image taken by the Suomi NPP satellite with the VIIRS instrument shows a few dozen fires along the coast. Strangely enough the recent spite of rain across the area does not make it safer for fires. It actually increases fire risk due to higher grasses that may catch fire with a lightning strike and burn longer and wider. Grass fires in particular start very easily and spread quickly – often up to three times faster than bush fire.
Firefighters were racing to tame an enormous blaze in southeastern Australia with officials warning it could merge with others to create a ‘mega-fire’ if weather conditions worsen, according to the New South Wales rural fire commissioner. Crews have been battling fires that flared in high winds and searing heat across the state of New South Wales last week with more than 200 homes so far destroyed and many others damaged. The main concern was near the town of Lithgow west of Sydney where a huge fire that has already burned nearly 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) was threatening the communities of Bilpin, Bell, Clarence and Dargan. Weather modelling indicates that there is every likelihood that these two fires, particularly up in the back end of the mountains, will merge at some point. Smoke and ash from the fire have been blanketing the Sydney skyline.
NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite collected this natural-color image using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on October 05, 2016. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from the NSW Rural Fire Department website.
Suomi NPP is managed by NASA and NOAA.