image: Fires burning in Arizona and New Mexico are generating enough smoke and heat to be spotted by NASA's Aqua satellite. Inciweb, the "Incident Information System" website reports wildfire conditions throughout the U.S. Inciweb noted that the Gladiator Fire in Arizona is more than four times larger than the Baldy wildfire in New Mexico. The Gladiator Fire has burned 14,184 acres. It was first spotted on Sunday, May 13 near community of Crown King. The fire started from a structure fire on private property and now moved onto the Prescott National Forest. The fire is consuming Ponderosa pine and chaparral. An evacuation order remains in effect for the community of Crown King, and the Battle Flat, Pine Flat, and Turkey Creek areas. Prescott National Forest has expanded a closure order for south of points in the Bradshaw Ranger District land. For more details, visit: http://wildlandfire.az.gov. The Baldy Wildfire is raging to the east in western New Mexico, and generating another large area of smoke. Inciweb reported that the fire started on May 9 from a lightning strike. The fire has already consumed 3,000 acres and the U.S. Forest Service reports that it is growing in all directions. The fire is located in steep and rugged terrain deep in the Gila Wilderness, where nothing is immediately threatened. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of fires and smoke blowing west on May 20, 2012 at 2010 UTC 4:10 p.m. EDT). The fires are marked by red dots and smoke from the fires appears a light brown in color. view more
Credit: NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Rob Gutro