File:Fires in the southeastern United States (MODIS 2017-02-20).jpg

English: Fires speckled the landscape of the southeastern United States in February 2017. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on February 16.

Bright red marks, known as hot spots, mark the landscape of eight states captured in this image: Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida. The largest clusters sit in southern Georgia and the panhandle of Florida. Smoke from those fires wafts over the Gulf of Mexico.

Dry weather along with high temperatures has brought a severe fire season to much of the southwest, with extremely damaging blazes in Tennessee and North Carolina in November 2016. Drought continues in many of these areas, along with high fuel loading, high temperatures, and gusting winds – all of which can set the scene for multiple and sometimes disastrous fire outbreaks.

The Southern Area Coordination Center (SACC) reports that as of February 18, the most dangerous new wildfires in this region, listed by date of ignition, are the Cold Mountain Fire, North Carolina (136 acres); Warden Station (c), Virginia (101 acres); CR630 E fire in Florida (5,550 acres), Yarborough Ridge, Florida (265); Parker Hollow, Kentucky (171); and Three Forks, Florida (7,200 acres).

Although wildfires continue to be an important hazard in the southeastern United States, the pattern of distribution, the location, the number of the fires, the small size of many of the hot spots, and the time of year also suggest that some of these fires may be agricultural fires. Fire is a traditional tool used to manage pasture, clear last season’s crops, prepare the ground for new crops, and clear land for agricultural use in many regions, including the United States.