Fanned by very strong winds, a wildfire is ripping through the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, California. With the city declaring a state of emergency, tens of thousands of people are evacuating as the out-of-control blaze continues to spread rapidly. Officials warn that the situation is likely to worsen.

This image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission vividly depicts the smoke billowing from the fire near Santa Monica at 10:36 local time on 7 January 2025, not long after the fire broke out. The blaze has since caused widespread damage and concern.

The image has been processed as a false colour composite that blends the true colour with shortwave infrared bands of the mission’s multispectral imager.

Two other fires around Los Angeles are also growing fast: the Hurst fire north of San Fernando and the Eaton fire in Altadena.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites, each carrying an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands for monitoring changes in Earth’s land and vegetation.