Glacier Fire

201537,863 acresAlaska

The Glacier Fire burned 37,863 acres, about 59 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on June 23, 2015.

Watch how it happened

Glacier Fire · 2015

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
Detections1,315satellite 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 Glacier Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered41%15,570
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive35%13,230
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive15%5,688
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change4.3%1,631
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images4.6%1,730

41% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 15,570 acres; 76% 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
Yukon-Koyukuk Census AreaAK37,893

Other large fires in Alaska in 2015

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