Fire officials have released a burn severity map for the Backbone Fire that burned in the Fossil Creek Wilderness last month and prompted the evacuations of the Pine and Strawberry communities.
According to burned area emergency response specialists, 63% of the nearly 41,000-acre was either unburned or saw low-intensity flames. About 35% of the area sustain moderate soil burn severity and only 2% of the burn area was classified as high intensity, which can result in significant recovery time and water being repelled from soils during rainstorms.
Meanwhile, about 7% of the Rafael Fire’s burn area near Flagstaff was high intensity while almost three-quarters was either unburned or low intensity.
