More than 155 square miles of grassland and forest were blackened south of the Red River by several separate blazes.

One of the worst-hit counties in Texas was Montague, where 66 homes were lost.

Around 70 houses in and around the Oklahoma City suburbs of Midwest City and Choctaw were destroyed by a fire officials say was intentionally set.

When NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the region at 2:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time on Thursday, April 9, 2009, some of the worst damage was yet to occur.

But a string of plumes from advancing firestorms can clearly be seen from well west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, northward into Oklahoma.

Blazes that later wiped out the community of Sunset, Texas, were approaching the community from the west, while residents of St. Jo were being evacuated as a precaution.

Smoke from the blazes seen around Eastland and Possum Kingdom later blew into the Ft. Worth-Dallas metropolitan area, causing health authorities to warm the young and elderly to remain indoors. Many residents there complained of burning eyes and noses due to the smoke.

Image: NASA MODIS Rapid Response System