Silver Fire

2013137,999 acresNew Mexico

The Silver Fire burned 137,999 acres, about 216 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on June 7, 2013.

Watch how it happened

Silver Fire · 2013

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
Detections6,496satellite 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 Silver Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered18%24,650
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive30%41,316
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive34%47,187
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change17%23,733
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.8%1,113

18% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 24,650 acres; 48% 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
Sierra CountyNM68,951
Grant CountyNM68,933

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