A fire that devastated neighborhoods in the port city of Valparaiso, Chile, in April has been extinguished. But the scars remain on the landscape.
The fire broke out on April 12, and smoke from the flames was visible on satellite images by the next morning. It took several days to control the fire, and efforts to fight the flames were stymied by high winds and the steep hillsides around the city. Many of the neighborhoods on these hillsides lacked water connections and passable roads, and power outages during the fire also created challenges for firefighters.
When the flames were finally brought under control, 15 people were dead and more than 3,000 homes were destroyed.
The aftermath of the fire was seen from space on May 4. An instrument on the Earth-Observing-1 satellite captured this view of Valparaiso and its surroundings, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. Large burn scars are seen running down the mountain into the outskirts of the city. These scars cover 2,385 acres (965 hectares), according to Earth Observatory.
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