Buncefield Oil Disaster, UK. The Buncefield fuel depot fire in December 2005 was the UK’s biggest peacetime blaze.

At one point black smoke covered much of south-eastern England, as satellite images show:

Oil Fires in Iraq. On Wednesday, April 2, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this clear image of the Middle East and surrounding countries. The most striking feature of the image is the large blackish-brown cloud of smoke blanketing Baghdad in the center of the image (see close up of Baghdad).

Californian fires, 2003. This dramatic image taken by a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra satellite shows fires and clouds of smoke spreading over the region and out to sea on October 26, 2003.

Greece fires. This image of fires burning across Greece and the Balkans was acquired by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on 26 July 2007 working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres. Credits: ESA

Colorado fires. This image of the Hayman Fire 35 miles south of Denver was taken by Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite on Wednesday, June 12. Colors have been enhanced, with purple showing a burned area of about 10.5 by 20 miles. Green regions represent healthy vegetation.

Canary Island fires. The forest fires, raging on the Canary Islands on 30 and 31 July, were clearly visible from space. The resulting smoke plume from these fires has been observed by the American satellite instrument MODIS, as shown in the image below. The MODIS instrument records colour images of the Earth with a spatial resolution of 300 meter.

Forest Fires in Eastern Siberia. The forest fires in Sakhalin, Khabarovsk, and Primorskii in eastern Siberia spread rapidly. Red dots, which indicate burning spots, increased on July 17 and 26 compared to the image on July 1, and gray smoke is gradually growing darker. The white over the sea indicates mist.

Brazil Fires. An uncontrolled pasture fire spreading to adjacent forest during the dry season of 1999 in Mato Grasso, Brazil as seen from space.

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