Harper Bend Fire

201537,570 acresAlaska

The Harper Bend Fire burned 37,570 acres, about 59 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on June 21, 2015.

Watch how it happened

Harper Bend 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
Detections1,060satellite 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 Harper Bend Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered44%16,571
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive29%10,951
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive13%5,010
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change9.0%3,378
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.3%97
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images4.2%1,563

44% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 16,571 acres; 73% 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 AreaAK37,598

Other large fires in Alaska in 2015

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