Johnson Fire

202195,860 acresNew Mexico

The Johnson Fire burned 95,860 acres, about 150 square miles, across 2 counties. It began on May 20, 2021.

Watch how it happened

Johnson Fire · 2021

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
Detections4,298satellite 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 Johnson Fire
Burn severity by class
SeverityShareAcres
Highmost vegetation consumed, soils altered2.8%2,646
Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive18%17,609
Lowsurface fire, most trees survive62%58,987
Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change16%14,942
Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before0.4%403
Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images1.3%1,273

3% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 2,646 acres; 21% 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
Catron CountyNM48,309
Grant CountyNM47,495

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