Sandy Lake Fire
198726,620 acresMinnesota
The Sandy Lake Fire burned 26,620 acres, about 42 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on April 18, 1987.
Watch how it happenedSandy Lake Fire · 1987
How it happened
See how severely each place burned, revealed outward from where it started.
How severely it burned
Burn severity inside the final perimeter, classified from Landsat images taken before and after the fire.
| Severity | Share | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered | 29% | 7,681 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 19% | 5,044 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 25% | 6,747 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 27% | 7,146 |
29% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 7,681 acres; 48% burned at moderate or high severity.
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (U.S. Geological Survey and USDA Forest Service). Classes come from the change in a Landsat burn index (dNBR) between images before and after the fire; acres are each class’s share of the fire’s mapped area.
Where it burned
Acres inside each county, measured from the satellite-mapped perimeter.
| Clearwater County | MN | 26,602 |
| Pennington County | MN | 14 |
Other large fires in Minnesota in 1987
- Unnamed Fire131,408 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.