The Killough and the Swenson fires were just two of several large fires that burned in Texas on April 10, 2011. Record-dry vegetation, low humidity, and strong winds led to extremely hazardous fire conditions on April 9 and 10, said the Texas Forest Service. By the end of the day on April 10, state fire crews were working on containing nine large fires.
This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on April 10, shows the two large fires burning in central Texas near Lubbock. Places where MODIS detected active fire are outlined in red. The newly burned ground in the wake of the fast-moving fires is charred brown.
By the morning of April 10, the Killough fire was nearly contained after having burned 10,500 acres and one home. The Swenson fire had burned 71,000 acres and was still uncontained.
References & Resources
- Texas Forest Service. (2011, April 10, 5:54 p.m.) Current Texas wildfire situation. Accessed April 11, 2011.
- Texas Forest Service. (2011, April 9). Wildfire weather imminent for Sunday. Accessed April 11, 2011.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
