Old Chicago Fire
200625,198 acresWyoming
The Old Chicago Fire burned 25,198 acres, about 39 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on July 27, 2006.
Watch how it happenedOld Chicago 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 | 9.1% | 2,295 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 14% | 3,523 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 17% | 4,174 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 60% | 15,191 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.1% | 15 |
9% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 2,295 acres; 23% 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.
| Platte County | WY | 24,864 |
| Goshen County | WY | 353 |
Other large fires in Wyoming in 2006
- Buffalo Creek Fire37,611 acres
- Little Venus Fire33,472 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.