The 101 Ranch Fire began on August 30, 2011, south of Possum Kingdom Lake in Palo Pinto County, Texas. By September 6, the fire had scorched 6,555 acres (2,653 hectares), according to the Incident Information System.
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image of the Ranch 101 burn scar on September 3, 2011. The burn scar is gray, vegetation is red, and bare or sparsely vegetated ground is tan. Water is navy blue.
Just south of the easternmost curve of Possum Kingdom Lake is a network of residential streets, some of which lie within the burn scar. The Texas Forest Service reported that 39 homes and nine RVs had been destroyed. Although dozens of homes had been lost, firefighters saved nearly 200 others.
As of September 6, the 101 Ranch Fire was 85 percent contained. News sources said that winds had died down, and some firefighters had been released to battle other blazes in the state. The same day, the Texas Forest Service reported that it had responded to 22 new fires in the past 24 hours, and 181 fires over the past week. The surge of wildfire in the region burned a total of 118,413 acres (47,920 hectares), and more than 700 homes had likely been lost in just 48 hours.
The fires came in the midst of high temperatures and low humidity. Large parts of Texas have suffered from severe drought in the summer of 2011.
References & Resources
- Hanna, B. (2011, September 6). Wildfire focus shifts to Central Texas. Star-Telegram. Accessed September 6, 2011.
- Incident Information System. (2011, September 6). 101 Ranch. Accessed September 6, 2011.
- Magditch, D. (2011, September 4). Pilots fight 101 Ranch wildfire from above. KDAF TV. Accessed September 6, 2011.
- Texas Forest Service. (2011, September 6). Texas Wildfire Situation. Texas A&M University. Accessed September 6, 2011.
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Caption by Michon Scott.
