Search Challenge (4/27/16): What are those smoke plumes?

Every so often... 

... (well, quite frequently for me!)... you'll see things that you just don't understand.  Maybe it's a funny insect, or a interesting flower, or an odd plant growing in a place you don't expect.  

I have this curiosity inspiring moments fairly often.  Usually, I'll write myself a note to "look this up later"  I flag it in my notes with the prefix L/U (for "look-up"), and every so often when I can't figure them out, I pose them to you as a SearchResearch Challenge.  

Last February 18th, 2016, in the early afternoon I was flying just north of Mobile, Alabama, when I looked south out of my window and saw this: 

This is the best shot I could get with my camera.  I didn't have polarizing filters to help cut down on the glare.  And yes, that's my checked shirt you can see reflected in the window.

As you can see, there are 5 rather large billows of smoke rising from the ground.  This week's Challenge is to... 

1.  Can you identify WHY it looks like half of Alabama is on fire?  What's going on in this photo?  

As I said, this is really just one instance of the general search problem--how do you go from the information given to a clear explanation of what's going on.  

How would you search for something this dramatic, and this difficult-to-understand from 30,000 feet in the air?  

If you figure it out, let us know HOW you figured it out.  (If you just happened to know, that's fine--put your answer in the comment stream with a comment like "I live there" or "I just happen to know..."  Those kinds of answers are good too!)  

This week.... Search on... 

... for the fire!