July 4, 2008—The skies are choked with smoke from more than a thousand wildfires in a newly released image taken about 500 miles (800 kilometers) above California.

The ESA satellite Envisat got the shot on June 25, but hundreds of fires continued to rage this week during a historically bad season.

Sparked by a combination of drought, winds, and lightning, more than 1,750 blazes have torched roughly 667,000 acres (270,000 hectares).

Satellites aid the fight by delivering data on weather conditions, temperatures, and aridity.

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