Contact: Rob Gutro
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
443-858-1779
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Northern Florida's County Line Fire Covers 25,000 Acres

Caption: More than 25,000 acres have burned in northern Florida's County Line Fire, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured a thick plume of smoke streaming from it on April 11, 2012. The County Line Fire continues to burn in the Pinhook Swamp, located in northern Florida's Baker and Columbia counties. Pinhook Swamp consists of pine flatwoods and swamps. The swamp is located between the Osceola National Forest and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies onboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of fires and smoke from the County Line Fire in northern Florida on April 11 at 18:25 UTC (2:25 pm EDT) when the wind was blowing from the northwest, pushing the thick stream of smoke to the southeast and over Jacksonville and northeast Florida. The fires appear as red squares and smoke from the fires appears a light brown color. Today, April 12, winds have shifted and are blowing from the east. The winds are blowing the smoke west of the fire, and the National Weather Service forecast office in Jacksonville calls for areas of smoke in Lake City, Five Points, Wellborn, White Springs, Big Shoals State Park, the Woods Ferry Conservation Area, and Live Oak. Iniciweb reported that the fire started from a lightning strike on April 5. Inciweb is the "Incident Information System" website that reports wildfire conditions throughout the country. The U.S. Forest Service noted on April 12, "Night shift plans to complete strategic burns on the east and southeast flanks of the fire in anticipation of the coming wind shifts. The wildfire’s location in a remote swamp has made it particularly difficult to fight using traditional firefighting tactics due to limited access." About 140 firefighters continue to combat this fire.

Credit: Image: NASA Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Text: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Rob Gutro

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