Carla Lake Fire
199862,462 acresAlaska
The Carla Lake Fire burned 62,462 acres, about 98 square miles, across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area. It began on May 21, 1998.
Watch how it happenedCarla Lake Fire · 1998
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 | 2.4% | 1,507 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 16% | 9,889 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 18% | 11,206 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 51% | 32,114 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.2% | 126 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 12% | 7,621 |
2% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 1,507 acres; 18% 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.
| Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | AK | 62,508 |
Other large fires in Alaska in 1998
- Stp001 Fire42,763 acres
- Gardiner Creek Fire28,795 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.