On September 6, 2009, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured this simulated natural color image of the Station fire, burning in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. The fire began August 26 in La Canada Flintridge near NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (seen at the bottom of the image), and soon grew to become the largest fire in Los Angeles County's history. Ten days after its start, the fire had consumed more than 160,000 acres (251 square miles) of forest, leaving behind a charred, blackened landscape as it spread eastward. Smoke from the actively burning area can be seen on the right side of the image; the large dark gray area dominating the image is the evidence of forest and chaparral destruction.
