Telegraph Fire

200833,508 acresCalifornia

The Telegraph Fire burned 33,508 acres, about 52 square miles, across Mariposa County. It began on July 25, 2008.

Watch how it happened

Telegraph Fire · 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
Detections283satellite 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 Telegraph Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered20%6,791
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive43%14,458
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive20%6,653
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change16%5,469
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.4%137

20% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 6,791 acres; 63% 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
Mariposa CountyCA33,479

Other large fires in California in 2008

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