NASA satellite sees grass fires in Kansas, Oklahoma

ALVA, Okla., April 1 (UPI) -- The terms "wildfire" and "forest fire" are sometimes used interchangeably, but not all wildfires are forest fires. Nearly as often as fire leaps across timberland, wild flames char brush, shrubs and grass.

Recently, NASA's Aqua satellite spotted a swath of charred grass in Oklahoma and Kansas -- the aftermath of a grass fire that swept across the two Plains States in late March.

An image captured by Aqua's MODIS camera on March 23 shows the fire at its outset, just a day after it was sparked in Oklahoma. The winds can be seen whipping the smoke across the flatlands and high into the air.

Another image, this one captured four days later, features the charred earth left behind by what authorities dubbed the Anderson Creek fire.

Rain has been hard to come by in the region this spring, and scientists say the dry conditions among the prairie and cattle grazing lands along the Kansas-Oklahoma remain vulnerable to blazes.

The fire burned more than 620 square miles, and local officials and media outlets are calling it the largest grass fire in Kansas history.

No people were injured, but some 600 cattle perished in the flames. More than two dozen structures and at least 16 homes were burned, as well.

On March 31, firefighters announced that the blaze was 90 percent contained.