Shu Lightning Complex (Motion)

200829,327 acresCalifornia

The Shu Lightning Complex (Motion) burned 29,327 acres, about 46 square miles, across Shasta County. It began on June 22, 2008.

Watch how it happened

Shu Lightning Complex (Motion) · 2008

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
Detections449satellite 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 Shu Lightning Complex (Motion)
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered20%5,958
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive35%10,359
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive28%8,190
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change16%4,798
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.1%22

20% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 5,958 acres; 56% 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
Shasta CountyCA29,346

Other large fires in California in 2008

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