Elbow Pass Complex
201228,984 acresMontana
The Elbow Pass Complex burned 28,984 acres, about 45 square miles, across Lewis and Clark County. It began on July 12, 2012.
Watch how it happenedElbow Pass Complex · 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 | 37% | 10,846 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 22% | 6,248 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 24% | 7,055 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 15% | 4,454 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.1% | 22 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 1.2% | 359 |
37% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 10,846 acres; 59% 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.
| Lewis and Clark County | MT | 28,989 |
Other large fires in Montana in 2012
- Mustang Complex377,684 acres
- Ash Creek Fire253,270 acres
- Chalky Fire132,639 acres
- Sarpy Hills Complex83,940 acres
- Taylor Creek Fire64,337 acres
- Delphia Fire40,412 acres
- Welder Fire32,984 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.