Image of fires and smoke in Washington State and the neighboring states of Idaho, Montana and Oregon. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the Terra satellite on 23 August 2015. The group of fires in the north-central portion of Washington State,the Okanogan Complex, is the largest in Washington State's history and has burned almost 400 square miles. Fires are also burning in other parts of Washington State as well as neighboring states mostly due to lightning strikes and exacerbated by hot, dry weather and drought conditions.
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Sources: Washington Fire is now the Largest in State's History. Newsweek. Okanogan Complex. InciWeb.