Ponil Complex
200289,018 acresNew Mexico
The Ponil Complex burned 89,018 acres, about 139 square miles, across Colfax County. It began on June 8, 2002.
Watch how it happenedPonil Complex · 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 | 31% | 27,455 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 20% | 17,785 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 15% | 13,541 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 28% | 24,997 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.4% | 380 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 5.5% | 4,860 |
31% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 27,455 acres; 51% 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.
| Colfax County | NM | 89,083 |
Other large fires in New Mexico in 2002
- Middle Fire37,163 acres
- Walnut Fire30,395 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.