Wallow North and Horseshoe Two fires, Arizona

The blaze from Wallow North, one of Arizona’s most potent fires, grows at an alarmingly fast rate. Likewise an end to the Horseshoe Two fires seems nowhere in sight. U.S. Forest Service officials rank the Wallow North fire, which has left 600 square miles of pine forest blackened, as Arizona’s second-largest forest fire on record, according to Reuters.

Both fires are continuing to produce thick clouds of smoke, as seen in this image. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite identified the fires (in red) on June 8 at 20:25 UTC (4:25 p.m. EDT/2:25 p.m. MDT).

Fire officials said they are bringing in a Boeing 747 supertankers to assist with the fires and spread fire retardant chemicals, reported the KPHO news service on June 8.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Melissa Quijada