Missionary Ridge Fire
200269,017 acresColorado
The Missionary Ridge Fire burned 69,017 acres, about 108 square miles, across 3 counties. It began on June 9, 2002.
Watch how it happenedMissionary Ridge 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 | 30% | 20,651 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 24% | 16,701 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 26% | 18,026 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 17% | 11,886 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 2.5% | 1,753 |
30% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 20,651 acres; 54% 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.
| La Plata County | CO | 68,001 |
| Archuleta County | CO | 551 |
| Hinsdale County | CO | 365 |
Other large fires in Colorado in 2002
- Hayman Fire129,312 acres
- Burn Canyon Fire30,588 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.