Chitanatala Fire

201035,546 acresAlaska

The Chitanatala Fire burned 35,546 acres, about 56 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on May 26, 2010.

Watch how it happened

Chitanatala Fire · 2010

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
Detections153satellite 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 Chitanatala Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered39%13,989
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive26%9,065
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive13%4,529
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change7.7%2,740
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images15%5,222

39% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 13,989 acres; 65% 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
Yukon-Koyukuk Census AreaAK35,576

Other large fires in Alaska in 2010

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