Route Complex

201535,418 acresCalifornia

The Route Complex burned 35,418 acres, about 55 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on July 31, 2015.

Watch how it happened

Route Complex · 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
Detections3,135satellite 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 Route Complex
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered20%6,937
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive18%6,486
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive39%13,932
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change22%7,959
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.3%104

20% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 6,937 acres; 38% 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
Trinity CountyCA18,055
Humboldt CountyCA17,388

Other large fires in California in 2015

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