On November 23, 2011, a fast-moving wildfire devastated two communities in southwestern Australia. The fire started when high winds blew an ember from a prescribed burn out of the controlled area. By the time the fire was contained, 30 homes had been destroyed in the communities of Prevelly and Gnarabup. Charcoal-colored land shows where the fire burned in this image, taken on December 1 by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. Much of the burned area is in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. Tan roads cross the burned area, and white dots are buildings, most likely houses. The image is rotated so that north is right. The fire extended along the coast for several kilometers outside the area shown here.
References & Resources
- ABC News. (2011, November 26). WA fire victims take stock as threat eases. Accessed December 2, 2011.
- Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia. (2011, November 28). Natural disaster relief available for those affected by the bushfire in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. Government of Western Australia. Accessed December 2, 2011.
- Trenwith, C. (2011, November 23). Bushfire burns homes, too late for evacuation. Sydney Morning Herald. Accessed December 2, 2011.
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
