Sulukna Fire

200228,810 acresAlaska

The Sulukna Fire burned 28,810 acres, about 45 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on June 4, 2002.

Watch how it happened

Sulukna 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
Detections127satellite 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 Sulukna Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered36%10,277
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive35%9,944
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive15%4,179
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change9.0%2,582
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.9%270
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images5.4%1,558

36% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 10,277 acres; 70% 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 AreaAK28,825

Other large fires in Alaska in 2002

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