Holtnakatna Fire

2015180,199 acresAlaska

The Holtnakatna Fire burned 180,199 acres, about 282 square miles, across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. It began on June 23, 2015.

Watch how it happened

Holtnakatna 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
Detections3,313satellite 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 Holtnakatna Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered16%28,797
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive34%61,336
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive31%56,054
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change11%20,686
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.1%244
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images7.3%13,081

16% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 28,797 acres; 50% 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 AreaAK180,266

Other large fires in Alaska in 2015

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