Yetna River Fire

2002156,079 acresAlaska

The Yetna River Fire burned 156,079 acres, about 244 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on July 18, 2002.

Watch how it happened

Yetna 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
Detections677satellite 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 Yetna River Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered7.8%12,124
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive44%69,414
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive32%50,526
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change9.3%14,546
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.1%97
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images6.0%9,372

8% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 12,124 acres; 52% 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 AreaAK156,189

Other large fires in Alaska in 2002

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