Chalky Fire
2012132,639 acresMontana
The Chalky Fire burned 132,639 acres, about 207 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on August 1, 2012.
Watch how it happenedChalky Fire · 2012
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 | 9.4% | 12,408 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 31% | 40,776 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 45% | 59,499 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 6.2% | 8,281 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.1% | 90 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 8.7% | 11,584 |
9% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 12,408 acres; 40% 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.
| Rosebud County | MT | 106,496 |
| Big Horn County | MT | 26,184 |
Other large fires in Montana in 2012
- Mustang Complex377,684 acres
- Ash Creek Fire253,270 acres
- Sarpy Hills Complex83,940 acres
- Taylor Creek Fire64,337 acres
- Delphia Fire40,412 acres
- Welder Fire32,984 acres
- Elbow Pass Complex28,984 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.