Apex Fire

200331,038 acresUtah

The Apex Fire burned 31,038 acres, about 48 square miles, across Washington County. It began on June 28, 2003.

Watch how it happened

Apex Fire · 2003

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
Detections187satellite 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 Apex Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered19%5,937
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive47%14,537
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive25%7,749
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change9.1%2,811

19% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 5,937 acres; 66% 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
Washington CountyUT31,000

Other large fires in Utah in 2003

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