Smoke from Lateral West Fire Reach the Beach

A thick haze of smoke floated over Virginia’s southern coastline, visible to beach goers. A photo from Rebecca Roth, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. captured the smoky sky above Little Island Park in Sandbridge, Va. on August 9, 2011.

As of August 15, the Lateral West Fire has grown to over 6,000 acres and currently has a high potential for more growth, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Incident Information System. Various news outlets report the smoke moving towards Maryland.

More firefighters are arriving to the Great Dismal Swamp refuge to quell the fire, and numerous trees are falling near the swamp, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

NASA image courtesy of Rebecca Roth, Goddard Image Coordinator. Caption by Melissa Quijada, NASA.