North Fork Fire
1988563,089 acresIdaho and Montana and Wyoming
The North Fork Fire burned 563,089 acres, about 880 square miles, across 5 counties. It began on July 22, 1988.
Watch how it happenedNorth Fork Fire · 1988
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 | 28% | 157,295 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 19% | 108,880 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 23% | 129,174 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 27% | 151,458 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 2.5% | 14,314 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 0.3% | 1,968 |
28% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 157,295 acres; 47% 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.
| Park County | WY | 349,809 |
| Teton County | WY | 165,263 |
| Gallatin County | MT | 27,317 |
| Fremont County | ID | 19,851 |
| Park County | MT | 1,287 |
Other large fires in Idaho and Montana and Wyoming in 1988
- Clovermist Fire303,221 acres
- Canyon Creek Fire167,806 acres
- Mink Fire135,337 acres
- Huck Fire123,340 acres
- Storm Creek Fire115,951 acres
- Hellroaring Fire77,539 acres
- Teepee Butte Fire59,518 acres
- Brewer Fire48,246 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.