Powderville Fire
199654,975 acresMontana
The Powderville Fire burned 54,975 acres, about 86 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on August 17, 1996.
Watch how it happenedPowderville 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 89% | 48,676 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 11% | 6,249 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.1% | 51 |
Most of the area inside the perimeter burned at low severity or not at all.
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.
| Custer County | MT | 45,576 |
| Powder River County | MT | 9,447 |
Other large fires in Montana in 1996
- Rosebud Creek Fire25,159 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.