Dawes County Complex

200627,916 acresNebraska

The Dawes County Complex burned 27,916 acres, about 44 square miles, across Dawes County. It began on July 27, 2006.

Watch how it happened

Dawes County Complex · 2006

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
Detections220satellite 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 Dawes County Complex
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered4.6%1,278
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive36%9,961
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive51%14,225
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change8.4%2,333
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.4%120

5% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 1,278 acres; 40% 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
Dawes CountyNE27,923

Other large fires in Nebraska in 2006

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