Central Complex (Wolf Creek)

2004228,183 acresAlaska

The Central Complex (Wolf Creek) burned 228,183 acres, about 357 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on June 7, 2004.

Watch how it happened

Central Complex (Wolf Creek) · 2004

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

Detections2,169satellite fire pixels

Fire milestones

Burn severityHigh, Moderate, Low, Unburned to low, Increased greenness

Burning nowAreas reached in the last half day of satellite passes

New York City, to scale301 square miles of land, drawn at the fire’s scale

Timing: NASA FIRMS satellite fire detections (2,169 MODIS) inside the final perimeter; each place takes the time of its nearest detection, so the order is satellite-observed but interpolated between passes, roughly every 12 hours. Severity: Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS, U.S. Forest Service), mapped from Landsat after the fire.

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 Central Complex (Wolf Creek)

Burn severity by class
Severity	Share	Acres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered	4.0%	9,219
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive	40%	91,848
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive	30%	68,662
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change	19%	44,326
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before	0.2%	486
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images	6.0%	13,642

4% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 9,219 acres; 44% 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 Area	AK	160,841
Fairbanks North Star Borough	AK	67,495

Other large fires in Alaska in 2004

Boundary Fire537,728 acres
Dall City Fire530,540 acres
Taylor Highway Complex (Billy Creek)460,335 acres
North Dag Fire429,332 acres
Pingo Fire353,275 acres
Taylor Highway Complex (Chicken)337,961 acres
Winter Trail Fire295,750 acres
Edwards Creek Fire286,038 acres

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