image: Huge devastating fires have run the gamut across the Garden Route in South Africa causing hundreds of residents to be evacuated. This fire is one of the largest fires to ever affect the area leaving a burn scar four times the size of the blaze in Knysna in 2017. This fire is at least 35km wide (21.7 miles) and has a front of more than 180km (111.8 miles). The wildfire is burning in extremely dense and old vegetation, which makes effective wildfire fighting virtually impossible. To date the fire has consumed more than 90,000 hectares (222,394 acres). The Joint Operations Center at the Garden Route District Municipality issued these updates as of Nov. 4, 2018: Mossel Bay/Herbertsdale wildfire: Active fire lines‚ especially on the western flank. Firefighters are actively battling these blazes. Mopping-up operations are under way in other parts of the area. No infrastructure is in danger. Jonkersberg wildfire: SANDF Oryx and a Working on Fire Huey dropped water on the western flank. Cooler weather conditions are making firefighting operations easier at the moment. Mopping-up operations continue at other flanks. No infrastructure in danger. Outeniqua/De Vlugt wildfire: Over 86‚000ha have burned. The current scar is four times the size of the 2017 Knysna/Bitou fires (22‚000ha). Currently crews are attending to high-priority flare-ups at all divisions through suppression actions‚ with a focus on critical areas being Jonkersberg‚ Noll‚ Kransbos‚ Diepwalle and Seven Passes. Mopping-up operations will be taking place throughout the day. George firefighting crews managed to safeguard the Highlands Lodge from danger. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks "right now." This satellite image was collected on November 03, 2018. Actively burning fires, detected by thermal bands, are shown as red points. view more
Credit: Image Courtesy: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Caption: Lynn Jenner with information from the JOC at the Garden State Municipality.