Black Fire
2022328,399 acresNew Mexico
The Black Fire burned 328,399 acres, about 513 square miles, across 3 counties. It began on May 14, 2022.
Watch how it happenedBlack Fire · 2022
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 | 6.0% | 19,603 |
| Moderatemixed: many trees killed, some survive | 19% | 63,706 |
| Lowsurface fire, most trees survive | 49% | 160,760 |
| Unburned to lowislands inside the perimeter, little change | 22% | 73,233 |
| Increased greennessvegetation greener after the fire than before | 0.8% | 2,498 |
| Not mappedcloud, shadow or water in the satellite images | 2.6% | 8,600 |
6% of the area inside the perimeter burned at high severity, about 19,603 acres; 25% 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.
| Sierra County | NM | 203,439 |
| Grant County | NM | 87,121 |
| Catron County | NM | 37,510 |
Other large fires in New Mexico in 2022
- Hermits Peak Fire351,782 acres
- Cooks Peak Fire61,143 acres
- Cerro Pelado Fire45,605 acres
- Bear Trap Fire38,222 acres
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service). Type recorded: Wildfire.