Hancock Complex

201171,576 acresOregon

The Hancock Complex burned 71,576 acres, about 112 square miles, across 5 counties. It began on August 24, 2011.

Watch how it happened

Hancock Complex · 2011

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
Detections211satellite 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 Hancock Complex
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered0.1%44
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive17%11,868
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive69%49,434
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change14%10,226

under 1% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 44 acres; 17% 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
Wasco CountyOR31,030
Gilliam CountyOR25,817
Wheeler CountyOR9,032
Jefferson CountyOR5,604
Sherman CountyOR10

Other large fires in Oregon in 2011

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