Kerulu Creek Fire
200340,990 acresAlaska
The Kerulu Creek Fire burned 40,990 acres, about 64 square miles, across Northwest Arctic Borough. It began on June 18, 2003.
Watch how it happenedKerulu Creek Fire · 2003
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 8.6% | 3,544 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 70% | 28,895 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 11% | 4,484 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.2% | 65 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 9.8% | 4,002 |
No part of the fire was classed as high severity; 9% burned at moderate 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.
| Northwest Arctic Borough | AK | 41,024 |
Other large fires in Alaska in 2003
- Hadweenzic Fire177,820 acres
- Erickson Creek Fire119,594 acres
- Cornucopia Creek Fire52,428 acres
- Sand Creek Fire49,760 acres
- Black Hill Fire41,893 acres
- Big Mud Fire40,397 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildland Fire Use.