Gray Fire
198928,767 acresNew Mexico
The Gray Fire burned 28,767 acres, about 45 square miles, across Hidalgo County. It began on June 16, 1989.
Watch how it happenedGray Fire · 1989
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 | 20% | 5,685 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 25% | 7,053 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 37% | 10,647 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 19% | 5,370 |
20% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 5,685 acres; 44% 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.
| Hidalgo County | NM | 28,758 |
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.