 October 28, 2003
At least 14 people have lost their lives because of these fires, which officials are reporting were caused by carelessness and arson. Thousands have been evacuated across the region and at least a thousand homes have been lost.  Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Ten large fires rage across southern California in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image taken on October 27, 2003 by NASA's Aqua satellite. Starting in the north, the first cluster of red dots is a combination of the Piru, Verdale, and Simi Incident Fires, which have burned a combined 113,680 acres of land. The next line of dots consists of the Old, Grand Prix, and Mountain Fires. The small cluster closer to the coast is the Roblar 2 Fire. Going south, the Paradise Fire (top), the Cedar Fire (center), and the Otay Fire (bottom) form a massive veil of smoke over San Diego. Overall, well over 200,000 acres have burned in the fires.
 Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Moving northwest to southeast along the coast, the first cluster of red dots in this photograph is a combination of the Piru, Verdale, and Simi Incident Fires; the next cluster-to the east of Los Angeles-is the Grand Prix (west) and Old (east) Fires; to their south is the Roblar 2 Fire; next is the Paradise Fire; then the massive Cedar Fire, whose thick smoke is completely overshadowing the coastal city of San Diego; finally, at the California-Mexico border is the Otay Fire.
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