Khotol River Fire

200257,972 acresAlaska

The Khotol River Fire burned 57,972 acres, about 91 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on July 17, 2002.

Watch how it happened

Khotol River Fire · 2002

How it happened

Watch it burn in the order satellites saw it, coloured by how severely each place burned.

About this replay
Date (UTC)—Historical replay
Burned so far—acres
High severity—of the area so far
Detections307satellite fire pixels

How severely it burned

Burn severity inside the final perimeter, classified from Landsat images taken before and after the fire.

Map of burn severity across the Khotol River Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered16%9,414
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive31%18,024
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive22%12,960
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change15%8,862
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.5%286
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images15%8,425

16% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 9,414 acres; 47% 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.

Acres burned by county
Yukon-Koyukuk Census AreaAK58,025

Other large fires in Alaska in 2002

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.