41 Fire

199448,452 acresCalifornia

The 41 Fire burned 48,452 acres, about 76 square miles, across San Luis Obispo County. It began on August 14, 1994.

Watch how it happened

41 Fire · 1994

How it happened

See how severely each place burned, revealed outward from where it started.

About this replay
IgnitionAugust 14, 1994Historical replay — order not recorded
Final area48,452 ac
Revealed—
Counties1

How severely it burned

Burn severity inside the final perimeter, classified from Landsat images taken before and after the fire.

Map of burn severity across the 41 Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered62%30,017
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive19%9,392
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive8.6%4,161
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change9.0%4,356
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before1.1%527

62% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 30,017 acres; 81% 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.

Acres burned by county
San Luis Obispo CountyCA48,441

Other large fires in California in 1994

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.