Three Lakes Fire
200835,944 acresAlaska
The Three Lakes Fire burned 35,944 acres, about 56 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on July 2, 2008.
Watch how it happenedThree Lakes Fire · 2008
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 | 5.7% | 2,041 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 33% | 11,962 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 30% | 10,783 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 31% | 11,113 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.1% | 45 |
6% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 2,041 acres; 39% 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.
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | AK | 35,956 |
Other large fires in Alaska in 2008
- Sheenjek River Fire25,872 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.