Fern Fire

201229,737 acresIdaho

The Fern Fire burned 29,737 acres, about 46 square miles, across Idaho County. It began on July 27, 2012.

Watch how it happened

Fern Fire · 2012

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
Detections3,001satellite 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 Fern Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered26%7,703
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive31%9,216
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive24%7,028
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change19%5,722
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.1%22
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images0.2%46

26% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 7,703 acres; 57% 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
Idaho CountyID29,736

Other large fires in Idaho in 2012

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