Big Mud Fire
200240,423 acresAlaska
The Big Mud Fire burned 40,423 acres, about 63 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on June 8, 2002.
Watch how it happenedBig Mud Fire · 2002
How it happened
Watch it burn in the order satellites saw it, coloured by how severely each place burned.
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 | 43% | 17,564 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 30% | 12,081 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 16% | 6,566 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 7.5% | 3,051 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 2.8% | 1,142 |
43% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 17,564 acres; 73% 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 | 40,456 |
Other large fires in Alaska in 2002
- Geskakmina Lake Fire260,185 acres
- Reindeer Fire225,602 acres
- Vinasale Fire175,425 acres
- Yetna River Fire156,079 acres
- Sischu Fire127,466 acres
- Moose Lake Fire118,836 acres
- Milepost 78 Fire107,366 acres
- Colorado Creek Fire89,032 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.