At 20:10 Universal Time (2:10 p.m. local time) on May 24, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a natural-color image of fires that continued to burn in Canada’s Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces. Red outlines indicate hot spots where MODIS detected warm surface temperatures associated with fires. Thick plumes of smoke were blowing northward.

When this image was acquired, the Fort McMurray fire remained out of control and was burning under high to extreme fire conditions. The fire had already consumed 5,229 square kilometers (2019 square miles).

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.