Wellnitz Fire
201277,396 acresNebraska and South Dakota
The Wellnitz Fire burned 77,396 acres, about 121 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on August 29, 2012.
Watch how it happenedWellnitz 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 | 4.9% | 3,829 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 39% | 30,196 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 22% | 17,018 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 2.1% | 1,623 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.1% | 50 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 32% | 24,680 |
5% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 3,829 acres; 44% 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.
| Sheridan County | NE | 48,953 |
| Oglala Lakota County | SD | 28,324 |
Other large fires in Nebraska and South Dakota in 2012
- Region 24 Complex66,306 acres
- West Ash Fire55,218 acres
- Longhorn Complex41,436 acres
- Douthit Fire29,027 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.