Bobcat Fire
202030,661 acresMontana
The Bobcat Fire burned 30,661 acres, about 48 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on September 2, 2020.
Watch how it happenedBobcat Fire · 2020
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 | 13% | 3,986 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 18% | 5,640 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 56% | 17,045 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 13% | 3,875 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.4% | 115 |
13% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 3,986 acres; 31% 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.
| Musselshell County | MT | 30,487 |
| Yellowstone County | MT | 167 |
Other large fires in Montana in 2020
- Sarpy Fire51,605 acres
- Huff Fire41,768 acres
- Snider Fire33,231 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.