The Etajima fire of 1978 in Japan was used to assess the accuracy of a method of classification, mapping and area estimation of the devastation caused by forest fire using Landsat MSS data. The classification and mapping method developed was limited to field sizes of about 10 km × 10 km, and the registration of Landsat data for mapping was performed by affine transformation using corresponding ground control points both on the Landsat imagery and the topographical map.