Big Creek Fire
199649,348 acresAlaska
The Big Creek Fire burned 49,348 acres, about 77 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on June 16, 1996.
Watch how it happenedBig Creek 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 | 18% | 8,706 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 44% | 21,742 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 22% | 10,745 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 13% | 6,296 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 1.6% | 790 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 2.2% | 1,069 |
18% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 8,706 acres; 62% 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.
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | AK | 49,373 |
Other large fires in Alaska in 1996
- Chitanana River Fire58,369 acres
- Slender Smoke Fire42,648 acres
- A 508 Fire39,128 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.