English: Bushfires blazed in New South Wales, Australia in February 2017. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the infernos on February 12.

At least seven individual hotspots can be seen in this image – at least one of which is very large. Heavy smoke pours from the hotspots and blows southeastward over the Tasman Sea. The red hotspots mark areas where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected areas where the temperature was higher than background. When accompanied by typical smoke, as in this image, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fires.

According to media reports, on February 14 more than 2,500 firefighters were fighting more than 120 bushfires across the state, with the areas in the central western part of New South Wales hit the hardest. The NSW Rural Fire Service website stated that on February 15 a total of 41 homes have been confirmed destroyed with nine others damaged. A total of 128 outbuildings have been confirmed destroyed, with 30 others damaged. There are reports of churches burnt to the ground as well as loss of livestock.

The fires are fueled by an extreme heatwave that has been roasting the state over the last few weeks, which brought temperatures as high as 47˚C (116.6˚F). The source of the ignition of most of the fires are unknown. However, three people, including a teenage boy and a former volunteer firefighter are reported to have been charged with deliberately lighting fires.