Pines Fire

200265,352 acresCalifornia

The Pines Fire burned 65,352 acres, about 102 square miles, across San Diego County. It began on July 29, 2002.

Watch how it happened

Pines 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
Detections234satellite 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 Pines Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered19%12,392
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive23%15,046
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive24%15,963
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change31%20,140
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before2.8%1,811

19% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 12,392 acres; 42% 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
San Diego CountyCA65,406

Other large fires in California in 2002

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