Lost Fire

201257,661 acresNevada

The Lost Fire burned 57,661 acres, about 90 square miles, across Washoe County. It began on August 5, 2012.

Watch how it happened

Lost 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
Detections771satellite 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 Lost Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive20%11,298
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive55%31,840
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change16%9,305
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images9.1%5,219

No part of the fire was classed as high severity; 20% burned at moderate 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
Washoe CountyNV57,647

Other large fires in Nevada in 2012

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