Wildfires in French Mediterranean region observed from MODIS

nasa-worldview-2017-07-24-to-2017-07-27 — Natural-color composite image acquired from the NASA MODIS-Aqua sensor over the Provence area, France from 2014.07.24 to 2017.07.26. Smoke from the blazes and wildires. Red points indicate the actively burning zones detected from the MODIS fire thermal anomaly products (Source: https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov)

Since mid-July, huge wildfires have raged across south-eastern France, forcing more than 10,000 residents and holidaymakers to flee homes and campsites overnight. Some fires also occurred in the northern part of Corsica. Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed but the battles remain difficult and challenging due to strong winds, dry areas and extreme warm weather.

These impressive fires were spotted by the American Modis-Aqua satellite through the dispersed smoke particles on the last days. The burning areas are not only located within the forests but also next to the coasts and some famous villages (e.g. Saint-Tropez and Bormes-Les-mimosas in the Var department).

Evacuated people are forced to sleep on the beach of Bormes-les-Mimosas in the Var region in southern France. Fires often ravage the French Riviera but this year the area is experiencing an exceptionally hot and dry summer, making it particularly vulnerable. Moreover, current investigations suspect malice causes in this event. The blazes have destroyed brush and vegetation in about 4,000 hectares (15 square miles) of land along France’s Mediterranean coast.