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NASA sees Fort McMurray wildfires from space

This night-time infrared view of the Fort McMurray wildfire was captured by the NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite on May 5, 2016 at 5:56 a.m. EDT. UWM/SSEC/CIMSS, William Straka III

The devastating wildfires that forced more than 88,000 people from their homes in Fort McMurray has been imaged from space.

A satellite operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), captured the raging forest fires surrounding Fort McMurray.

READ MORE: Climate change: Does a warming climate mean more wildfires?

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite has an extremely sensitive camera that images in the infrared. The camera, called the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) took a nighttime image of the fires surrounding Fort McMurray early Thursday morning. (For a high-resolution image, click here.)

This daytime view of the Fort McMurray wildfire captured by the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite on May 4, 2016 at 4:05 p.m. EDT.
This daytime view of the Fort McMurray wildfire captured by the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite on May 4, 2016 at 4:05 p.m. EDT. NASA MODIS Rapid Response, Jeff Schmaltz

In the image, the fires are the brightest parts, while the light grey represents the smoke from the fires.

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The high winds, which appear to be blowing south-southeast of the blaze, exacerbated the fire on Tuesday and Wednesday forcing the city to issue a mandatory evacuation order.

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