Gilbert Fire

201229,764 acresNevada

The Gilbert Fire burned 29,764 acres, about 47 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on August 5, 2012.

Watch how it happened

Gilbert 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
Detections719satellite 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 Gilbert Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered5.1%1,532
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive18%5,363
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive62%18,368
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change13%3,844
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.6%174
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images1.6%483

5% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 1,532 acres; 23% 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
Lander CountyNV16,259
Churchill CountyNV13,532

Other large fires in Nevada in 2012

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