NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA satellites continue to provide coverage of the smoke and heat signatures generated from wildfires raging in the western United States. The Waldo Canyon Fire is threatening populated areas, and is located near Colorado Springs, Colo.

The MODIS instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of the fire on June 26, 2012. Thick smoke, partially obscured by clouds, is visible blowing toward the northeast. The red outlines indicate hotspots where MODIS detected unusually warm surface temperatures associated with fires. (Credit: NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team)
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› More on this image from NASA's Earth Observatory

The Waldo Canyon Fire was discovered on June 23, 2012, burning in Pike National Forest near Colorado Springs, Colorado. By June 27, it had burned 15,517 acres (6,280 hectares), was 5 percent contained, and had forced at least 32,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Don Savage, retired from NASA and residing in Colorado, captured photographs of the Waldo Canyon Fire. The photos and a short video taken on June 26 and 27, convey the close proximity to the Colorado Springs neighborhoods. "One photo was shot from Garden of the Gods looking north towards Queen's Canyon, where the fire crested the ridge and moved down into Colorado Springs," he said. "When the Waldo Canyon fire crested a ridge it worked its way down to the Mountain Shadows neighborhood," he said. "That's where a few hours later many houses burned on June 26, 2012."


According to Inciweb, the Incident Response website, currently more than 750 people are battling the fire. For updates on the fire and evacuations, visit Inciweb at: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2929/#content.

This photo was taken from Garden of the Gods, looking North towards Glen Eyrie, Colorado and the ridges just west of Colorado Springs. There are neighborhoods on the east slopes of the ridge climbing up pretty high, which are the homes that were in the path of the fire yesterday, June 27, 2012. (Credit: Don Savage Photography, used with permission)
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This photo was taken of the Waldo Canyon fire from southwestern Colorado Springs, looking northwest towards the areas where the fire started on Saturday. (Credit: Don Savage Photography, used with permission)
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This photo was shot from Garden of the Gods looking north towards Queen's Canyon, where yesterday, June 26, 2012, the fire crested the ridge and moved down into Colorado Springs. (Credit: Don Savage Photography, used with permission)
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The Waldo Canyon fire crested the ridge and is working its way down to the Mountain Shadows neighborhood, where a few hours later many houses burned on June 26, 2012. (Credit: Don Savage Photography, used with permission)
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Adam Voiland and Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.