Fawn Creek Complex Fire, Washington

The Fawn Creek Complex Fire, Washington continues to grow. On July 24, the fire was estimated to be more than 58,000 acres and about 35 percent contained. This image of the blaze was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on July 23, 2003. The active fire locations are marked in red.

Washington is the 18th largest state, with an area of 71,362 square miles (184,827 km2), and the 13th most populous state, with more than 7.4 million people. Approximately 60 percent of Washington’s residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rainforests in the west; mountain ranges in the west, central, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, central, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, after California. Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano. Also Fawn Creek Complex Fire, Washington caused a lot of damage.

Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC