Bates Fire
199647,070 acresWyoming
The Bates Fire burned 47,070 acres, about 74 square miles, across Washakie County. It began on August 25, 1996.
Watch how it happenedBates Fire · 1996
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 | 4.7% | 2,216 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 35% | 16,506 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 34% | 16,140 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 26% | 12,194 |
5% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 2,216 acres; 40% 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.
| Washakie County | WY | 47,060 |
Other large fires in Wyoming in 1996
- Eblack Mtn Fire53,228 acres
- Olmstead D Fire44,522 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.