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Mexican authorities have sent warnings to Washington over two wildfires in one of its northern states that are raging near the Texas border. Flames have spread over nearly 245,000 acres (99,000 hectares) of the northern state of Coahuila, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. The country has urged the US and Canada to help put out the fire, which is raging about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the US border. The fires broke out in late March, reportedly after a lightning strike. Strong winds helped spread the flames.
These images, taken by the Landsat-5 satellite on April 9, 2011, illustrate the challenges facing firefighters combating two large wildfires in northern Mexico’s Coahuila state. The fires are burning on steep mountain slopes that are difficult to impossible for ground crews to reach. The top image shows dense plumes of smoke blowing northeast on strong winds.
The lower image, which includes both infrared and visible light, provides a view through the smoke to the freshly burned terrain. The fires, called El Bonito and La Sabina, were caused by lightning strikes in mid-March and had burned 99,000 hectares (245,000 acres or 380 square miles) as of April 11. The fires are among the largest in Mexico’s history, according to news reports. The burned land is brick red in the lower image. Hot areas glow orange in infrared light, revealing the active fire front on the south and west sides of the burned area. (The orange horizontal stripes are satellite sensor artifacts.)
The fires are burning mostly grass and shrub land, ecosystems that are adapted to fire, says the Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR, Mexico’s National Forest Service). Lack of winter rain and frost left the plants dry and prone to fire. On top of that, the area has not burned for more than 20 years, during which time fuel built up. Thunderstorms and steady strong winds with gusts up to 70 miles per hour completed the formula for a dangerous, fast-moving wildfire. As of April 11, the fire-prone vegetation, inaccessible terrain, and strong winds had thwarted 900 firefighters working to control the fires, said CONAFOR. On April 11, a Boeing 747 tanker and three helicopters from the United States joined nine helicopters in fighting the fires.
Two wild fires burning in Mexico west of Nogales were responsible for a haze settling over the Sierra Vista area Thursday. The Bull Fire, located about three miles south of the U.S. border, has burned about 2,000 acres, according to the Coronado National Forest Service. The fire is located about one mile east of the similarly sized Pena Fire, which began March 12. Dozens of forest service firefighters are assisting Mexican crews to tie the newer Bull Fire into the areas already charred by the Pena fire in order to minimize further growth.
www.latino.foxnews.com...
Mexican authorities may order residents to leave communities in the drought-stricken northern state of Coahuila, where ongoing wildfires have already scorched 249,000 hectares (614,814 acres), the country's Semarnat environmental agency said Thursday. Some 1,500 ground personnel and 25 aircraft are currently battling eight active fires in the state, which borders Texas. One of those blazes is threatening the highland town of Arteaga, contiguous to the municipality of Galeana in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon. Authorities are now considering whether to order evacuations from four agricultural settlements and the Monterreal ski resort, Semarnat said.
Originally posted by WeBrooklyn
Just WoW!
And you the hear the people screaming? I would have too, a tornado alone is scary but but 1 filled with fire
I hope those fires can get under control, the map looked like half the country was burning...
So was it caused by a tornado starting over the brush fires or is this just something we really havent seen before?
is it realy that big of a deal? its not thretening homes no one has died. it looks awesome but thats not big news lots of cool phenomena goes unreported.
Originally posted by Extralien
reply to post by Sek82
That's the crazy thing though isn't it... almost nothing mentioned.. just a few small bits about some planes giving a helping hand..
Nothing on the ongoing troubles that Mexico is currently going through... You'd imagine an almost running commentary from the MSM if this was the USA or some other major league player..
It seems that because it is Mexico, who cares.. Why would anyone bother reporting on all the fires and destruction unless it affected the so called "criminal" drug gangs.. Now that would be news worth reporting.. or at least twisting into some form of money raking...
But natural fires?
No chance.. give a snippit of info to say somebody is trying to help then sweep it under that carpet and hope there's enough fire retardant ...
What i have learned is that if a fire is big enough it will create its own weather including, tornado's, and lighting. no rain of course as its a fire.
No the world is not too focused on anything. The news isn't reporting REAL NEWS. And the rare tornados, like the ones in the South ARE HAARP. And Fukushima. BP is theirs too. And the news doesn't report it. The news doesn't report anything.
Originally posted by Danbones
Enoch said the end this time would be fire, I think
wow
I guess the Americans Christians don't want to admit
that the Mexican Christians
are getting the REALLY good wrath of god stuff
while they are just getting...
ho hum
regular tornadoes...
of course the athiests don't even want to admit there is such a thing as wrath of god...
It is more difficult to garner aide when competing against a spectacle like a fire tornado