San Diego County Looks Like Mars After Fire

1 minute read
The aftermath of the wildfire at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in San Diego County, Calif., on on May 15, 2014.
The aftermath of the wildfire at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in San Diego County, Calif., on on May 15, 2014.DigitalGlobe/Getty Images
By Sam Frizell

Fires ravaged San Diego County last week, charring more than 26,000 acres of drought-parched brush and dozens of homes and buildings in the process. A combination of unseasonable triple-digit temperatures, extremely low humidity and hot winds blowing in from the desert stoked the blazes, kicking off what promises to be a historically destructive wildfire season.

Botany Bay, relatively level ground on the surface of Mars between Cape York and Solander Point, taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter on July 7, 2013.
Botany Bay, relatively level ground on the surface of Mars between Cape York and Solander Point, taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter on July 7, 2013.NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

“We get extreme fire behavior every 10 years and the drought doesn’t help. This is very odd for the month of May to have these types of fires,” Cal Fire Capt. Richard Cordova told TIME on Saturday.

The fires left the countryside looking like the barren wastes of a pock-marked planet. Here, satellite imagery taken after the Camp Pendleton fire shows an otherworldly scene more like the surface of Mars than California.

 

 

 

San Diego Wildfires Leave Haunting, Burned-Out Landscapes

California wild fires
A longtime exposure shows smolderings remains of overnight fires on the hillsides of San Marcos, San Diego county, Calif., May 16, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA
California wild fires
A longtime exposure shows smolderings remains of overnight fires on the hillsides of San Marcos, San Diego county, Calif., May 16, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA
California wild fire
Smoldering trees obscure the sunset atop a hill in San Marcos, San Diego county, Calif., May 14, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA
California wild fires
Smoke from the fires in San Marcos and Escondido lays down at dawn due to subsiding winds near Elfin Forest Road, San Diego county, Calif., May 16, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA
California wild fires
A longtime exposure shows smolderings remains of overnight fires on the hillsides of San Marcos, San Diego county, Calif., May 16, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA
California wild fires
Smoke from the fires in San Marcos and Escondido lays down at dawn due to subsiding winds near Elfin Forest Road, San Diego county, Calif., May 16, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA
California wild fires
A burned out home near Washingtonia Drive after catching fire, San Marcos, San Diego county, Calif., May 16, 2014. Stuart Palley—EPA

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