Thick smoke was streaming from several fires in southern California when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite acquired a natural-color image in the afternoon on December 5, 2017.

The largest of the blazes, the fast-moving Thomas fire in Ventura County, had charred more than 65,000 acres (24,000 hectares or 94 square miles), according to Cal Fire. Smaller smoke plumes from the Creek and Rye fires are also visible.