Alamo Fire

201729,298 acresCalifornia

The Alamo Fire burned 29,298 acres, about 46 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on July 6, 2017.

Watch how it happened

Alamo Fire · 2017

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
Detections985satellite 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 Alamo Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered4.8%1,420
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive35%10,364
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive25%7,446
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change25%7,385
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before9.2%2,682

5% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 1,420 acres; 40% 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
Santa Barbara CountyCA23,008
San Luis Obispo CountyCA6,247

Other large fires in California in 2017

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