Cave Creek Complex
2005245,997 acresArizona
The Cave Creek Complex burned 245,997 acres, about 384 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on June 21, 2005.
Watch how it happenedCave Creek Complex · 2005
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered | 4.5% | 10,980 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 25% | 62,553 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 44% | 107,275 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 22% | 54,206 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 4.4% | 10,895 |
4% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 10,980 acres; 30% 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.
| Yavapai County | AZ | 152,142 |
| Maricopa County | AZ | 94,000 |
Other large fires in Arizona in 2005
- Edge Complex69,237 acres
- Goldwater Fire56,707 acres
- Cow Fire44,495 acres
- Tweedy Point Fire36,146 acres
- King Valley Fire33,013 acres
- Mt Bangs Complex29,640 acres
- Growler Peak Fire28,189 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.