Lightning started the Little Bear Fire in New Mexico’s Lincoln National Forest on June 4, 2012. By June 14, the fire was 40 percent contained, but it had burned 37,787 acres (15,292 hectares). The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured these images of the affected area on June 12.
The false-color image (top) shows a broad view of the area. Vegetation is bright green; sparsely vegetated or bare land is green-yellow. The burn scar appears in shades of red. Places where the fire is burning actively are orange-red. The area outlined in white in the top image corresponds to the close-up view provided in the true-color image (bottom). Smoke does not appear in the false-color image, but it is gray in the true-color view. Thickly-settled residential areas are visible toward the right of the true-color image.
By June 14, the fire had damaged or destroyed 224 residences and 10 outbuildings, causing $11.5 million of damage.
References & Resources
- El Paso Times. (2012). Little Bear Fire: 234 Buildings Lost to Blaze. Accessed June 14, 2012.
- Inciweb. (2012). Little Bear Fire. Accessed June 14, 2012.
- Las Cruces Sun-News. (2012). Little Bear Fire Now 35 Percent Contained. Accessed June 14, 2012.
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 Adam Voiland.
