River Complex
201578,468 acresCalifornia
The River Complex burned 78,468 acres, about 123 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on July 31, 2015.
Watch how it happenedRiver Complex · 2015
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 | 18% | 14,139 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 24% | 18,754 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 44% | 34,501 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 14% | 10,850 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.3% | 224 |
18% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 14,139 acres; 42% 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.
| Trinity County | CA | 72,213 |
| Humboldt County | CA | 6,316 |
Other large fires in California in 2015
- Rough Fire146,362 acres
- Rocky Fire96,061 acres
- Valley Fire77,446 acres
- Butte Fire72,913 acres
- Route Complex35,418 acres
- Pattison Fire31,106 acres
- Lake Fire30,396 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.