Esperanza Fire
200640,533 acresCalifornia
The Esperanza Fire burned 40,533 acres, about 63 square miles, across Riverside County. It began on October 26, 2006.
Watch how it happenedEsperanza Fire · 2006
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 | 11% | 4,297 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 29% | 11,851 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 37% | 15,169 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 22% | 9,119 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.2% | 97 |
11% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 4,297 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.
| Riverside County | CA | 40,566 |
Other large fires in California in 2006
- Day Fire159,718 acres
- Pigeon Fire100,893 acres
- Millard Fire86,525 acres
- Canyon Fire36,840 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.